Set-piece woe for Bulls coach

Ken Borland

Yes, the Bulls’ problems all started at set-piece and they dropped too many balls in attack during their comprehensive 37-24 defeat at the hands of the Stormers in Cape Town in their opening Super Rugby game, but coach Nollis Marais and captain Handre Pollard both felt their team were up with the pace of the game.

“The loss was because of the set-pieces. We didn’t have good lineouts or scrums, and when we attacked we would lose the ball, allow them to take quick taps and that put us under pressure,” Marais said of the defeat.

“It was just our set-piece let us down and we made errors. But we showed character in the second half and we can build on that,” Pollard said.

While the Stormers had an advantage due to their front-foot ball from the scrums, the Bulls never seemed settled as the home side avoided rucks and lineouts in an outstanding display of expansive, high-tempo rugby, something Marais’ team will have to adapt to if they hope to win Super Rugby, especially since they play New Zealand teams this year.

They play another expansive team this weekend in the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein and are without Lood de Jager (above), the Bok lock who made an early impression before being concussed. Jason Jenkins will replace him.

While the tight five had an unfortunate opening weekend, the only other change Marais has hinted at is a rotational switch at loosehead prop between Pierre Schoeman and Lizo Gqoboka.

But there could be two changes to the backline with Jan Serfontein back in midfield and Warrick Gelant starting at fullback in place of Jesse Kriel, which Marais also described as a rotational switch.