White puzzled with ref’s call

Knitting together a team that could win the Super Rugby Unlocked competition was coach Jake White’s (above) first job, but on Saturday the Bulls showed that they also have incredible character.

They opened their Currie Cup campaign with a stunning victory over Western Province at Newlands despite playing with only 14 men for 35 minutes.

The Bulls were already up against it as Western Province’s powerful Springbok front row put plenty of heat on them at the scrums, and the home team were thoroughly dominating both territory and possession.

Then loosehead prop Jacques van Rooyen was harshly red-carded for a poor tackle that was a bit late and didn’t have a lot of arms being used, but it was not the head-high cheap shot referee AJ Jacobs talked TMO Rasta Rasivhenge into seeing.

But the cruel blow galvanised the Bulls and they snatched a 22-20 win at the death to win at Newlands for the first time since 2009.

“It shows a lot of character to play with 14 men for 35 minutes against Western Province and still get the result. The players can be exceptionally proud and this result will probably stay in the memory banks for a long time. I told the players afterwards to just enjoy it. That sort of character comes from within, from the group itself.

People talk about the culture of a team and we are clearly a tight unit. I’m very proud of what they did. When we got the red card, I just said we must keep believing,”

White, and most observers, felt the red card was not a fair decision, but the Bulls coach seemed more concerned about a breakdown in the machines that are meant to relay all the officials’ decisions into the coach’s box.

“I heard the conversation between the referee and TMO and then all of a sudden it was switched off. But it sounded almost as if there was not agreement between the two. I don’t think a red card was justifiable because Warrick Gelant was not hit on the head but on the shoulder,” said White.