Cliched or not, it’s all about the basics for the Bulls

The Bulls are getting a real taste for the varied nature of Super Rugby.

They host the Jaguares in Pretoria on Saturday night, having made fools of themselves last weekend in losing to the Sunwolves in Tokyo.

That shock result brought widespread criticism on to the Bulls management and players and, if they want to attract the crowds to Loftus Versfeld as they begin a run of home games, then they are going to have to sharpen up considerably.

Also read: Embattled Nollis Marais has the Bulls’ faith as coach

The Bulls are a globally respected brand and their current efforts are undoubtedly not good enough.

The management and players are well aware of that and are desperate to return to winning ways against the Argentinians.

But it won’t be easy because the visitors are a streetsmart side and practically a Test side.

That being said, their game plan is fairly conservative, and the Bulls can beat them by adopting a quicker game.

Of course, that is far easier said than done for a team that is as bereft of confidence in their own skills.

“The Jaguares will also have a rush defence so we need to carry the ball better than we have been and get some momentum. They will come off the line hard, cut legs and try and get turnovers,” experienced Bulls captain Adriaan Strauss warned.

As ever against the in-your-face Jaguares, getting quick ball from the breakdowns will be crucial.

Bulls coach Nollis Marais has picked his side to that end, with the nippy Piet van Zyl starting at scrumhalf and a specialist openside flank on the bench in Marnus Schoeman.

The lineouts and scrums are two areas where the Jaguares are well down the field with success rates of less than 80% and Marais said the Bulls’ focus has to start on those set-pieces.

“It doesn’t matter if you want to play expansively or not, you have to win the smaller battles first. We have to execute first and then the rest can come together and we can play from there. But one week it’s the scrum that’s shaky and then the next week the lineout doesn’t work properly and the following week it’s the breakdown.

“We need to be more accurate everywhere and we have to fix the basics first. If you can get your set-pieces and breakdown right, then you can play any way you want to.

“The Jaguares are very disruptive, they will try to slow you down and do small things to upset you, which is why they have a lot of penalties against them (11 per game, 2^nd worst in Super Rugby). They also come hard off the line so sometimes they are caught offsides. So there is a lot of opportunity there for us,” Marais said.

For more sport your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.