Nortje: Bulls must heed the Lions’ warning
THE recent troubles of the Lions will not distract the Bulls from the task at hand as they push to secure a top eight finish in the URC.
That was the view of Bulls lock Ruan Nortje, who reflected the mood of Lions eighthman Francke Horn, as both teams prepare for the return leg of the Jukskei derby this weekend.
The Lions’ woes on and off the field these past few weeks have been well documented, but Nortje insisted that it would be foolhardy for the Bulls to believe that those concerns will make their encounter against the Joburgers a walkover.
“We as players, we are at the union to play rugby,” Nortje said.
“When we start to worry about what is going on outside of the pitch, we are in the wrong place and are thinking about the wrong stuff. It is important to focus on what we can control.
“It is the same when you look at the Stormers,” Nortje continued, referring to the administrative battles of the Western Province Rugby Union.
“They are a great group (of players) coming together with a good culture. They are putting in good performances.
“It is the same with the Lions. There is a lot of character there.
“They are still a young team but they are growing. They are getting better and better.
“It has never been easy playing against the Lions. It is always a tough game, and we are expecting nothing less this weekend.”
As if to signal the first warning that such a mentality would lead to ruin, Horn explained earlier this week that the mood in the Lions camp was much improved after some honest introspection.
“We had a few discussions as players,” Horn explained, “and we decided we have nothing to lose. Our backs are against the wall.
“We have more than enough talent to still do the job. We showed that on Saturday,” he added, referring to their victory over the Glasgow Warriors.
“There were times when we played with 13 or 14 men, especially in the last 15 minutes when Glasgow threw everything at us. We have decided that we are not going to back down.
“This week, it is a lot better. There is a lot more happiness in the camp.
“We know (winning) one game is not going to make us a good team. We are going to have to back up this performance this weekend across the Jukskei.”
The Bulls are currently sixth in the URC standings, with their fate very much in their own hands.
They have four matches remaining in the tournament, including tomorrow’s encounter against the Lions at Loftus Versveld (kick-off 4.45pm).
Although Nortje remained bullish about looking beyond the 12th-placed Lions to matches against Ulster away and their final two home matches against Zebre and Leinster, he hinted that the squad have discussed the possibilities and tentatively set a target.
As such, Nortje explained, every game from now on is akin to a knockout game.
“At this moment, we have to focus on this weekend’s game. We don’t want to think about any player or where we want to finish.
“We just want to go out this weekend and put in a good performance for our fans, for the whole franchise, and as players.
“We obviously always want to finish as high as possible on the log for the play-offs. It is vital to us.
“But this weekend we have just been focussing on us and really, really getting stuck in. We are thinking of nothing else.
“It is the mentality that we have now,” he added, reflecting on their winner-takes-all approach.
“We have put ourselves in this situation.
“We are now focussed on every game per weekend. They are all playoffs for us now if we want to finish in the top four.
“We can’t have any slip ups. It is now an automatic switch for us. It is a play-off games for us now nonstop.”