Coach White satisfied with Bulls’ game
Despite being on the back foot for large parts, team beats Stormers
Bulls director of rugby Jake White owed much of his team’s success over the Stormers in their Rainbow Cup SA clash in Cape Town to fastidious planning.
The Bulls played much of their gritty win (20-16) on the back foot and at the close were on the ropes. It is testament to their courage that they rode the punches to absorb what was thrown at them.
They also counterpunched effectively‚ through a brace of tries for Madosh Tambwe to further enhance their reputation as the country’s trendsetters‚ while heaping more misery on the hapless Stormers.
“Credit to the way we plan‚” White beamed.
His team went into the game with rookie front rankers, but the Bulls’ cavalry off the bench did not just come from those ranks.
They were under huge pressure in the scrums which helped contribute to a penalty count of 19-8 against them. They rode that storm, too, by making smart decisions.
The Bulls also planned for a Stormers defence that defaulted inward‚ a trend that was accentuated when the Cape side’s captain Steven Kitshoff ended up in the sin bin.
Paradoxically‚ their recidivist ways gave White cause to laud the team’s character.
“We conceded 19 penalties to eight. So to win the game and to have conceded so many penalties and a yellow card is pleasing. It is something we will look at during the week. It wasn’t just scrum penalties. There were a couple of situations where we should have been more clever.”
While they were largely at the receiving end in the scrums‚ the Bulls crucially applied a spoiling hand when they needed to in the line-out, while their defence again had the hallmarks of a champion side.
Defence coach Joey Mongalo can take credit for the Bulls’ application and commitment.
“I’m really proud. We won a game again with 14 men at the back end of a game‚” White said.
They were also able to keep up with a Stormers team hellbent on upping the tempo.
“It was a game that produced 43 minutes of ball in play. We’ve never seen that in SA‚” White said.
“The players had to work hard. We didn’t always finish but we found a way to win. This group is growing.”
As much as there is growth and new players are incorporated into the system‚ some of the stalwarts such as Morné Steyn just keep on trucking.
Steyn is now talked about as a candidate to play for the Springboks against the British and Irish Lions.
“He is obviously tactically astute about how we wanted to play the game this weekend.
“We played a little differently to how we normally play because we felt it was one way of suffocating the Stormers’ attack.
“Morné has been a stalwart in this team and he is in the alignment camp with the national team.
“We must be fair to him. He must be enjoying the fact that he is still being earmarked as a national. It was important for him to get some game time.”
SCORERS
DHL Stormers
Tries: Evan Roos
Conversion: Abner van Reenen
Penalties: Van Reenen (3)
Vodacom Bulls
Tries: Madosh Tambwe Conversions: Morné Steyn (2) Penalties: Steyn, Chris Smith. —