Bulls thrilled to be in URC top of the table mix — Jake White

The Bulls are thrilled to be battling it out at the top of the United Rugby Championship (URC) table along with Leinster and Glasgow Warriors, after their bonus point win over the Lions on Saturday saw them move into third place on the log.

Playing in the early kick-off on Saturday afternoon the Bulls managed to run in four tries on their way to a comfortable 25-10 win, which temporarily moved them from fourth on the log to the summit of the URC.

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However, Leinster’s 47-18 thumping of Benetton and Glasgow’s 40-7 thrashing of Dragons later in the day moved them both back above the Bulls.

In the mix

Despite that, after 10 games the Pretoria side are firmly in the top of the table mix and on course to make sure they secure what could be vital home playoffs when it comes to the URC knockout rounds.

“We look at the top and we’re top, we have our destiny in our own hands. It’s pressure because people want us to do well or not to do well because other teams are trying to catch us,” explained Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White after the Lions win.

“That’s a completely different pressure that we enjoy. I enjoy the fact that we’re on top, I enjoy the fact that we’re dominating, and I enjoy the fact that when we don’t play well we score four tries.

“There are a lot of things to be positive about. The other pressure is not pressure you want. Relegation pressure, fighting for your life, no team wants that pressure.

“So I’m enjoying the fact that we’re getting bonus points and near the top of the log. We have got a couple of senior players coming back as well, a guy like Wilco Louw changes the dynamic of our squad.”

Poor performance

For the Lions the loss sees them slip further away from their goal of finishing in the URC top eight, with them now 11^th on the log and coach Ivan van Rooyen admitted that it was a really poor performance from his team on Saturday.

“It was quite a stop start game. Initially we lost the set piece (battle) which stopped us from getting into our tactical structure. Then with individual errors on top of that we allowed them to pin us in our own half,” said Van Rooyen.

“We didn’t manage to get any consistent momentum on attack. That was frustrating because we wanted to attack them. We also knew that if we kicked long against them to players like Canan (Moodie) and Kurt-Lee (Arendse) they would probably punish us.

“So it was just a really scrappy game. We made a lot of errors and under pressure I think we (the players) went a little bit individualistic. We felt that one more ruck or phase and we could have punished them, but then conceded an error or silly turnover.”