Jake White admits Bulls naivety against Glasgow Warriors

Bulls director of rugby, Jake White, is confident his team will learn from the naivety they showed in their 40-34 win over Glasgow Warriors in the United Rugby Championship at Loftus Versfeld at the weekend.

The side from the capital were on top in just about every department and had the upper hand for 60 minutes against the log leaders and at one stage led 37-10. 

However, the Bulls imploded somewhat in the second half and allowed Franco Smith’s Warriors to score three converted tries to close the gap to 37-31 by the 75th minute, leaving the match on a knife’s edge. 

The Bulls though managed to secure the win through a Chris Smith penalty goal that took them to the 40-point mark. 

The big talking point after the 80 minutes were up was the second half collapse by the Bulls who failed to manage the game properly, allowing their visitors from Scotland to come close to pulling off a major comeback win. 

‘We could have been more conservative’

Reflecting on the second half slump, White said the players were a bit naïve and made wrong decisions.

“I just think we got naïve at the end,” White told the media. 

“We started kicking contestables when we had the game, set and match. We all of a sudden kept them in the game. Instead of kicking it out and giving them a lineout which takes up time we started giving them the ball, and that’s what they wanted.

“I sort of hate myself for saying this, but we could have been more conservative at the back end of the game.”

Talks with leaders

The Bulls mentor said he would have a meeting with the leadership group to review the scenarios that were at play during the slip-up.

“I don’t want to be hard on them, it’s a really good example of when we have got to have leadership on the field to call what we want to try and execute. 

“I challenged the leadership and said let’s meet Monday and go through scenarios where if we are in the same situation in big games, we have a theory and a game plan where everyone is on board,” White said.

 It wasn’t all doom and gloom for the Bulls as they played great rugby for 60 minutes, scoring four tries through Akker van der Merwe, Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, and Canan Moodie with Smith kicking 17 points. 

The performance during that period is what White wants the team to deliver regularly.  

“I thought the 60 minutes we played in the beginning were outstanding. I thought it was part of the best rugby we have played in a long time,” White said.

The win has kept the Bulls (fourth, 56 points) in the hunt for a crucial top four finish. They face Benetton, winners against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday, in another crucial match this weekend (2pm).