Jake White pushing for the Bulls to play their best rugby

With the United Rugby Championship reaching the conclusion of the regular season, Bulls director of rugby, Jake White, wants his team to play their best rugby with the knockout stages on the horizon.

The Bulls will play their penultimate fixture of the URC regular season on Saturday against Benetton at Loftus Versfeld with the kick-off at 2pm.

The side from Pretoria have had a good campaign so far as they are currently in fourth place on the URC points table with 56 points.

 White is getting his team ready for the playoffs, putting out his best team available and making sure they are playing as they showed in last weekend’s 40-34 win over the Glasgow Warriors. 

‘We have to play well’

Saturday’s clash with Benetton is an opportunity for the Bulls to push for an 80-minute performance and build momentum ahead of the playoffs, unlike last weekend when they fell away badly in the final quarter.

“What is important is that we play as well as we did for those 58 minutes (against Glasgow) throughout every game going forward now,” White said before the Benetton clash. 

“As the competition gets to the playoff stages and the top eight teams are competing, if you’re not on song for 80 minutes you could lose,” he said. 

Building on the 60 minutes against Glasgow

White said their hour performance against Glasgow was close to what he wants from the team. 

“Those 60 minutes are the benchmark of how we want to play for 80 minutes,” he said. 

“We were so dominant. That is as close as it gets when you play a team like Glasgow and you’re 37-10 up after 60 minutes.

“So, it’s simple, the best three games you have to play (in the season) are the last three and you have to make it your quarter-final, semi-final and final. You want to play your best rugby in the last three. 

“And in those 60 minutes, there were times where it was outstanding, it was outstanding with the forwards and backs, the set-piece was strong,” he said. 

The Bulls’ mentor urged his replacements to be switched on and know how to take the game forward when they come on.

“I have no doubt that our bench still needs to grow in terms of experience and game situations, we have spoken about it. You have to work out in your head what is needed when you go on,” White said.