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'If we played for five more minutes I have no doubt we would have ended up winning that game.'
Bulls director of rugby Jake White said his side took too long to adapt to Edinburgh's style. Picture: Euan Cherry/Getty Images
A deeply disappointed Bulls director of rugby, Jake White, told media that if they had been given five more minutes in their Challenge Cup quarter-final against Edinburgh, they would have won the game.
The Bulls fought back from a 31–7 deficit to ultimately fall just short at 34–26 at the Hive Stadium in Scotland on Saturday, becoming the last South African team to crash out of European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) competitions.
“This one hurts more than any other game because you are out of the competition,” White said after the Bulls fought back, scoring three of their four tries in the second half.
But the damage had been done early and it was all the Bulls could do to play catch-up against an excellent Edinburgh side.
“It was disappointing because I genuinely thought that especially with the bench we had, it was almost like we ran out of time. If we played for five more minutes I have no doubt we would have ended up winning that game.”
Edinburgh were better in just about every facet of the game. They stole more balls at the breakdown (10 compared to the Bulls’ three), slipped more tackles (24 compared to 10) and made fewer errors.
The Bulls were better in scrums and mauls, especially in the second half, but were far and out the weaker side in line-outs. Having done so well in line-outs in recent months, they fell apart, regularly throwing over the line or throwing skew, giving away possession in the worst moments.
When asked what went wrong in this area – Bulls stalwarts Ruan Nortje (lock calling the line-outs) and Akker van der Merwe (hooker) appearing to struggle on the day – White said it came down to how good Edinburgh were and how his charges could not adapt to their style and competitiveness until it was too late.
“We’re talking about an opposition team that all play for Scotland. They’ve just come out of Six Nations. They’ve been playing at the highest level they can these past two months and they’ve obviously brought that intensity, understanding and cohesion,” White said.
“And we just weren’t accurate. That sometimes happens. They put pressure on us there and we didn’t execute.
“It’s quality of the opposition and quality of the analysis. And we probably didn’t adapt in the first half to understand what was happening.”
White said good teams adapt to their opponents within the first 40 minutes, while the Bulls took about 50 minutes.
“That unfortunately is the difference between teams that end up winning big competitions and teams that get there and thereabout. Had we adapted the first 20 minutes like we did in the last 30 minutes, I am sure that we would have seen a completely different shape. We just ran out of time.”
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