Bulls’ fresh Champs Cup challenge: One day to prep for Lyon clash

The Bulls set off for France on Tuesday and their Champions Cup match against Olympique Lyon on Friday night, with more than 24 hours of travel leaving them with just one day – Thursday – once they arrive to prepare for the game in which they hope to seal qualification for the knockout stage.

Victory will assure the Bulls of a place in the last 16, and a couple of bonus points will surely do the trick as well. But they are going to have to rely on their training back in Pretoria being enough as they will only have time for a captain’s run the day before the match once they arrive in Lyon at around 4pm, having left Loftus Versfeld at 2pm on Tuesday.

‘Big talk’

“We’ve had two days to get our work done and there are a lot of things we can do better from the Exeter win, although we were very proud of the effort that was put in,” assistant coach Pine Pienaar said.

“There was big talk last week about us really needing to make a step up, and we are really proud with what the players brought. But now the temperature will be a bit different and we’re playing on a synthetic field.

“There are a few things we definitely need to do better than we did against Exeter and we let Lyon back in the game in the second half at Loftus. We let them have too much time on the ball.

Read more: Exeter leave Loftus feeling battered & bruised, but also mugged

“Lyon are a quality attacking side who like to keep the ball alive, so we need to step up our defensive system and keep them far away from our line,” Pienaar said.

Week is a long time

Despite the rushed nature of the Bulls’ preparation, a week is a long time in rugby, especially in a competition split between the southern and northern hemispheres. From playing in the heat of the African summer, scrumhalf Zak Burger is now bracing for the European midwinter.

“We’re much more comfortable playing running rugby at Loftus with the sun shining,” Burger said. “It’s through training in them that you get used to the conditions.

“We must get used to the weather in France now, it is colder and the wind blows more. It’s also obviously not very nice for teams travelling to Pretoria, with the heat and altitude making it difficult.

“But this is a massive game for us, very crucial. There are just four or five points in it in our group and we obviously want to finish as high as possible and hopefully play the round of 16 at Loftus.

Read more: SA teams to ‘host’ Champs Cup semi-finals away from home

“So it’s a high priority game to make the knockouts as easy as possible for us. There are fine lines in all these games and all French sides are very dangerous at home,” Burger said.