Bulls are the ‘Liverpool of rugby’ ALL SM ILES
THE “sleeping giant” at Loftus has awoken, and now it’s ready to conquer the world of rugby.
Jake White’s Bulls completed a remarkable turnaround in the franchise’s fortunes on Saturday when they got the job done to claim the Super Rugby Unlocked title with a 21-5 victory over the Pumas. It was their first major piece of silverware in a decade – having last tasted glory by winning Super Rugby in 2010 – and the success comes after one of the most forgettable campaigns earlier this year.
Under coach Pote Human, the Bulls registered a lone victory out of six matches and languished in fourth place in the South African Conference. They had scored the joint-fewest amount of tries (14), the second-least amount of points, and had seemingly run out of ideas of how to win matches.
Then Covid-19 arrived to herald the end of Super Rugby, and the Bulls bosses made some tough decisions. They appointed a new coaching staff headed by White, and let go of more than 12 players – even including captain Burger Odendaal.
They also made a number of signings, such as Duane Vermeulen, Stedman Gans and Jacques van Rooyen, but the difficulty for White and his staff was that he didn’t have much of an opportunity to test his players before Super Rugby Unlocked started.
Despite a few teething problems, it all came together and ended with a shiny new trophy held aloft by skipper Vermeulen and Trevor Nyakane.
“I’m very happy. I signed for this franchise on the basis that they are a sleeping giant. This is one of the best franchises in the world – this is the Liverpool or the Man United of rugby. You look at the teams around the world, and the Bulls will be up there,” White said afterwards.
“You look at the Real Madrids, Juventus’, Liverpools or Man Uniteds. At the end of the day, if you went to the top five or six, seven rugby clubs in the world, this would be one of them.
“So, for me to come here – and that was one of the reasons I came here – was that I wanted to get this union to win some silverware. It’s fantastic – not just for me, but for the whole union.
“This union hasn’t won anything for 10 years. We get measured on results, and I’m happy. And I’m back in South Africa and coaching South African players.”
Captain Vermeulen’s run of success continues after being the man of the match in the World Cup final last year, and he thanked “the people who have stuck with us through the difficult times. Hopefully there is more to come”.
Now the Bulls will take aim at a second trophy this season, with the Currie Cup starting this weekend. They will travel to Cape Town to take on Western Province at Newlands this Saturday, and will look to consolidate their four-point lead over Western Province and the Sharks – with the log points carried over from Super Rugby Unlocked.
White mentioned that one of the issues he will grapple with is whether to stick with the same team that has done the business up to now, or give some of the players a breather and more game time to others.
But for now, they will savour the fact that the glory days are well and truly back at Loftus.
Super Rugby Unlocked Fact File Most points scored: Bulls (178) Fewest points conceded: Bulls (92) Most tries: Bulls (21)
Fewest tries conceded: Bulls and Cheetahs (9)
Top try-scorer: Stedman Gans (Bulls, 5) Top points-scorer: Curwin Bosch (Sharks, 63)