Jake White starts plotting playoffs map after big Bulls ‘statement’ win

Bulls director of rugby, Jake White, was pleased with the reaction he saw from his team in their comprehensive 61-24 win over Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.

The win saw the Bulls end a two-game losing streak in the URC following losses to Leinster and Munster. 

The Bulls mentor wanted to see a reaction from his side against the Ospreys after they disappointingly lost to Munster at home in the previous round of games.

“We were under pressure, we could not afford to lose two games (in a row) at Loftus Versfeld,” said White.

“You want a reaction, good teams when they lose a game, in the next week they take it out on the opposition, and that’s what we saw today.

“Coaches are never happy, but let’s be fair. The win makes a statement, last week this team (Ospreys) beat the Stormers in Cape Town, they came with a massive high,” he said.

‘We are in the playoffs’

White said the win secured the Bulls’ place in the quarter-finals of the URC with three games left in the regular season. The Bulls are currently in fourth place on the points table with 51 points.

“At least now the first hurdle has been achieved, and that is to make the top eight. That means Europe next year and we are in the top eight for the third year in a row,” he said.

“The first box has been ticked, we are in the playoffs and now it’s about working out performance-wise how far we want to play at home (in the playoff stages),” said White.

The Bulls were overly dominant against Ospreys, controlling the game throughout the 80 minutes.

They ran in nine tries courtesy of Johan Grobbelaar, David Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse (2), Canan Moodie (2), Embrose Papier, and Willie le Roux plus a Penalty try. Flyhalf Christ Smith kicked six conversions with Jaco van der Walt also adding two points.

Variation in Bulls’ game

White was pleased with how the forwards and backs combined, playing good transitional rugby as they saw off Ospreys.

“I think we got that balance nice,” White said.

“We always want to make sure we have variation in our game. People expect us to play with our forwards because we have to be good enough to do that but we also have to be good enough to play with our backs when you expect us to play with our forwards.