By Brenden Nel.
The Vodacom Bulls chances of getting a home playoff game in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship took a nosedive with their home loss to the DHL Stormers on Saturday and they know they only have themselves to blame.
Coach Jake White was honest in the fact that their fifth consecutive URC loss to the Stormers does mean that the coastal team “has our number” and given the dominance in all stats by the Bulls on the day, their own attack was their biggest enemy as they failed to crack the Stormers defence despite a plethora of ball.
The brittle nature of the current Bulls team is a major concern going into the rest of the season, especially as it seems they haven’t learned from their own mistakes in December against the Stormers and still seem to have a mental block against the Cape side.
It does underline how John Dobson’s side is dominating SA Rugby and if they win their remaining derby against the Sharks, they will have a clean sweep against SA sides again.
But back to the Bulls – who will be bitterly disappointed that they didn’t live up to their own hype in the contest, and the red flags of the last seven weeks of competition where they struggled away from home in a seven week stretch that saw only one home game has come back to haunt them.
While White can talk about inexperience, and about how the team is on a learning curve, the brutal honest truth is that this was the best team they had, and while the Stormers had a numbe of key guys missing, the Bulls can’t really claim the same.
Had it not been for the key intervention of Morne Steyn in the second half the Stormers looked as if they may have run away with the game, despite having little posession and territory during the game.
And if that isn’t a concern for the Bulls, what will be?
MISSING MARCELL
Ever since the departure of Marcell Coetzee on a short-term stint to Japan, and Walt Steenkamp’s similar move, the Bulls pack has looked brittle.
But it has been the decision-making, the self-inflicted mistakes and the soft moments on defence that have cost them this season. While the lack of a defence coach can’t be blamed for Saturday’s loss, the Bulls know they have been covering cracks all along.
Add to that the fact that several players who starred for them – and here I’m talking senior players – during their dominance in pandemic rugby look tired, listless and seem to have run out of ideas.
That’s not saying the side are dead and buried yet. There is a lot of talent in the team, but their own concerns in how they managed their attack – not just in this match, but in others as well is a concern. The Bulls create more than enough chances, but don’t seem to be as clinical as is needed in a high-quality competition such as this.
MISSED CHANCES
“We had our chances. I feel a bit disappointed that we probably didn’t play as well as we could have in front of that crowd. In a lot of ways we made the same mistakes we made in Cape Town at Christmas. We were 12-3 up, we looked like we had control and in sort of 10-15 minutes of decision-making, we made a couple of mistakes that cost us,” White said afterwards.
“Those are the margins, got to give credit to the Stormers, they too had to play in front of a big crowd, they too had to come back from 12-3 down and they look like a team that is experienced and coping with that type of pressure. Manie Libbok kicking that drop kick was basically the difference. You got to give them credit.
“It’s one of those games, guys you look at the coach and you want to know what he has to say, but it isn’t a great feeling to let one of those slip away. I think in front of our supporters we could have put that over the line.”
TURNING IT AROUND
White believes he can turn it around, with his side not in the doldrums yet, but five consecutive losses to the old enemy will be a major headache going forward.
“That’s why we are in coaching, that’s why we are in rugby. You get the high road and the low road, now we’re on the dirt road. This is the test we have. This is the test for everybody. We’re not dead yet.
“Obviously we would have been more alive if we had won this game. We’re not dead. The point is we still have hope in the competition. We just have a very tough draw now. Basically the destiny is now dependent on other guys winning and losing. If we come fifth we play guys who come fourth. Sometimes if you come fourth you have to play Leinster so it is not going to get easier for anybody. It’s tough.”
White said more attention would be needed to get players to work under pressure so that better decision-making is there.
“After years and years of experience sometimes it is like that in sport. It isn’t nice, when you come into the changeroom and you’ve played reasonably well and you’ve dominated things and you don’t get over the line. Conversely sometimes you get away with it, ball bounces for you and it works in your favour. It is frustrating because you want things to be perfect.
“But we need to find solutions to how we handle pressure. And the only way you learn that is if you put people under pressure. You cant simulate it at training, you can’t say to players this is how it feels like until they are in that situation. 41000 people, a five metre lineout and you lose the lineout. I’ve seen Bismarck do it, I’ve seen Malcolm Marx do it. That’s what you have to get used to.
“I’ll get it right. I’m 100 per cent sure I’ll get it right. I’ve seen this before and nobody wasn’t trying.”