White excited by blend of youth and experience on the eve of new European season

As he looks towards the 20 September kick-off of the United Rugby Championship (URC), Bulls coach Jake White said he is excited about the growing experience in his squad.

Speaking at a URC ‘Coaches on the Couch’ session on last week, White said the Bulls were probably as close as they have ever been to getting the balance right between youth and experience in their squad.

“It is exciting times for the Bulls. In three URC campaigns we have now got nine Springboks in the squad and that will make us so much stronger because we can almost pick a Springbok in every position now, which is a great place to be when you want to win this competition,” White remarked.

He pointed out that his team played in two Grand Finals in three years, while in the process his squad underlined its quality by producing Springboks.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how we can kick on from last season,” White said.

It is exactly this experience which White is hoping will help them overcome what he identified as the reason behind their defeat to the Glasgow Warriors in the Grand Final at Loftus Versfeld last season.

“I reflected a lot with the group after the Grand Final and I think what hit us was that we played the Sharks with a strong Springbok group, then Benetton who have most of the Italian team, then Leinster with most of the Ireland team, and then the Glasgow Warriors who have a lot of internationals as well. I think the collective attrition and effort it took to play four consecutive games like that took it out of us in the last round. I think the final was a collective of what happened in the last month of the competition,” he explained.

According to White, it was probably a bridge too far, but he believes that with the squad they have now, they will be a bit tougher to last four weeks at that level. He believes the balance is right now to be able to change the squad around in the season so that they do not lose their legs in the back end of the competition.

White also praised Ruan Nortjé as a perfect example of a player coming into his own and being able to impart his growing Test experience on the rest of the team.

“There is a success story if you ever want to hear one. He came from a small school, he was not a provincial player as a junior, he basically came in as a late developer through university, and now he is played the All Blacks and beaten them in a Test match. He is incredibly disciplined. He trains hard. He works hard and puts incredible amounts of detail in. I do not think people are aware that he has his own laptop and analysis system, so he works hours and hours behind the scenes on his game and lineouts, and that is why I think he can contribute like he does into the Springbok set-up,” White commented.

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to bennittb@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram