Bulls in search of cohesion as they brace for Sharks

Bulls coach Jake White said on Thursday that he is still nursing his team into full rhythm, but he is hoping to take another step forward in their Super Rugby Unlocked match against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

“I would like to see more cohesion, but the guys have not played much together and we have been making changes to the team,” White said.

“I would just like to see more rhythm in attack and defence, and the team that gets that right the quickest, that hits their straps first, will create the most problems.

“So far this competition has been very top-start with lots of mistakes slowing everything down, and this is a new group of players, which is also a disadvantage. Other teams have had their squads together much longer.

“But it’s not an excuse and we just need to try as hard as we can to get some rhythm and continuity going.”

Judging by what happened the last time these two teams met, with the Bulls having thumped the Sharks on SuperFan Saturday last month, those watching in their homes are probably most excited by two scintillating backlines going up against each other.

Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen is particularly excited by his own backs.

“Cornal (Hendricks) and Stedman (Gans) showed what a good combination they are and I guess the coach wants to see if they can play well again together this weekend,” Vermeulen said.

“Travis (Ismaiel) and Kurt-Lee (Arendse) are back as well, so we have two very exciting wings, and David Kriel has put his hand up very well in the last two games, so I’m sure he will easily fit in at fullback.”

Meanwhile, Sharks coach Sean Everitt is also hoping for an improved performance from his team, as they look to bounce back from their recent defeat by taking a stronger unit to Pretoria.

“We’re going with a totally different mindset. We took a squad of 30 that day (SuperFan Saturday) and we wanted to look at combinations and youngsters who had shown progress to measure where they were,” Everitt said.

“But it’s back to business now, we have a settled squad and a much more experienced team, with lessons learnt on that SuperFan day.

“It will certainly be a different ball game. Getting one’s rhythm back sometimes takes time and we were unfortunate that after SuperFan Saturday we had a bye with the Green and Gold game.

“We played the Lions and then we had another bye, which did not help our continuity, but we are smiling because it meant players came back from injury.”

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