Bulls have all bases covered, says upbeat White ahead of big Gauteng derby against Lions

Coach Jake White says he is pleasantly surprised by how quickly his Bulls side have learnt how to vary their play and believes it could be an especially important quality when they come up against the Lions in their Super Rugby Unlocked match at Ellis Park on Saturday night.

Far from just playing forward-based rugby with a strong kicking game – traditional Bulls 10-man rugby – White’s Bulls have been one of the hottest attacking sides in the competition, beating the most defenders so far, fullback David Kriel has run the most metres and they have scored the most tries (15) with outside centre Stedman Gans the joint leading try-scorer along with Neil Maritz of the Pumas with four.

“I’m not surprised by the style of rugby we’re playing because we want to use our backs as well, but I am surprised that in a relatively short space of time the team has been able to get like that,” White said.

“The excitement for me is not being labelled as a conservative Afrikaans coach using a big pack and just kicking. We’ve now got the forwards who can go through the opposition and the backs who can go around them.

“I’ve coached all over the world now and I’ve taken the best of different countries and tried to use it with the Bulls. We have massive talent here and we can play different styles of rugby.

“The Lions also do quite a lot of unexpected things, the way they kick, the way they attack and run out of their own half. They’re not stereotypical and they like to have quick rucks and move the ball around, they have the most passes and offloads of all the teams,” White said.

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With the crowd at Ellis Park muffled by the Covid-19 restrictions and the Bulls accustomed to playing at altitude, two of the Lions’ key weapons have been removed. White also believes that their narrow defeat to the Free State Cheetahs three weeks ago in Bloemfontein has given them a template for how to beat the Lions.

“We had a great trial run against the Cheetahs, who are the same sort of team, and we know what went wrong then. We did everything right to win the game but we just didn’t take our chances. We played too much rugby in certain areas and sometimes when we needed to play, we kicked the ball away or a lineout throw went skew or we went left instead of right,” said White.

“Our cohesion wasn’t as well-oiled as it is now and we will ask different questions of the Lions. It’s not just bashing away with the forwards until they’re exhausted, we have backs who can break and score from their own line, we have one of the best flyhalves when it comes to kicking out of hand, and an aerial battle will suit us too with Travis Ismaiel and David Kriel both being nearly two metres tall.

“We’re confident we have all the bases covered and there’s nothing the Lions will do that we weren’t already challenged by against the Cheetahs. Plus the Lions have struggled this year, only winning two of their 11 matches, while Free State are the Currie Cup champions and have changed the way they attack and play considerably,” White said.

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