Bulls ‘very satisfied’ with Griquas win
WHEN you score six tries in a bonus-point victory and are still not quite happy with the performance, then you know you are going in the right direction.
After the Bulls were knocked out of the United Rugby Championship by the Stormers in the quarterfinals, they needed an immediate pick-me-up, and that arrived in Kimberley on Saturday as they dispatched Griquas 40-20 to keep their Currie Cup semi-final hopes alive.
While they didn’t move up the standings from seventh position, they are now on 22 points – just one behind Griquas – and have an opportunity to knock out one of their rivals for a semi-final berth in the Lions at Ellis Park this Saturday.
The Johannesburg-side remained in the last-four race themselves by upsetting log leaders the Free State Cheetahs 33-26 in Bloemfontein at the weekend.
But Bulls director of rugby Jake White made his intentions clear that he wants to win the Currie Cup by picking his strongest possible team against Griquas, and the move paid off.
Despite a spirited display from the home team , the Bulls forwards won the collisions and scored four out of the six tries – two to hooker Johan Grobbelaar, and one apiece to No 8 Elrigh Louw and prop Simphiwe Matanzima – but they were far from perfect.
“We came here with one mission, and that was to pick up five points” Bulls assistant coach Hugo van As said.
“We knew it’s going to be a tough outing and tough afternoon – Griquas playing at home is always tough. So, from that perspective, we’re very satisfied with the result.
“I think we struggled at the breakdown in the first half, and Griquas did very well to slow our ball down to disrupt us at the breakdown.
“We had a couple of missed opportunities in the first half, where we felt we could have been better and executed better.
“So, ja, the message at half-time was to go through them.
“We are very thankful for the win, and that was precisely what our goal was: to come here and (win). We knew it was going to be difficult, and in the first half, we played against a reasonably strong wind, and I thought Embrose (Papier) and Chris Smith controlled the game really well.
“But I still felt that we didn’t use a number of opportunities in their 22 especially, where we could have put more pressure on them earlier. But I acknowledge what it means to come to Kimberley, and that it’s always challenging and never easy.”
With four games left, the Bulls can reach a maximum of 42 points, and with the Cheetahs on top with 38 already, the Pretoria side have to keep on winning to make the semis, starting with the Lions in Johannesburg.