Bulls’ Jake White tells Glasgow Warriors that altitude matters at Loftus

Director of rugby, Jake White, has encouraged the visiting team, Glasgow Warriors, to play their renowned high-tempo game in their United Rugby Championship showdown with the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday (kick-off 2pm). 

A blockbuster match is on the cards as both teams from the top four on the URC points table will be in action looking to cement their places in those positions. The Bulls are in fourth place with 51 points while Glasgow Warriors are first with 58 points.

Before walking out onto the Loftus Versfeld pitch, the Glasgow Warriors players will fix their eyes on a big sign in the tunnel that says “Altitude. 1350m. It matters.”  

This sign should bring a certain fear factor for the visitors who’ll know they will have to pull out all the stops to get the better of the Bulls on the highveld. 

However, we have seen teams from overseas manoeuvre around the altitude aspect when at Loftus; the most effective way being to slow down the pace of the game as Munster did in their 27-22 win just a few weeks ago.

‘Legs fall off at Loftus’

But, the chances of Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors adopting Munster’s approach are minimal as their game model has seen them rise to the top of the URC log and White is hoping that they don’t abandon their now traditional style of play.

“I hope they do,” said White when asked if he expected Glasgow Warriors to play with a high tempo. 

“It’s quite an interesting complexity because if they go away from what’s been working for them, in some ways it’s not them. If they continue to do what they do well at altitude at 2pm in the afternoon, they could run out of legs, it’s not a secret. 

“If you ask any player that has played at Loftus, they will tell you in the second half it feels like your legs fall off.

“It’ll be interesting to see. I’m not sure whether or not they will come with an attitude where they will want to run us off our feet. It is what they are good at.”

Ready for fast or slow tempo

The Bulls mentor said his team would have to be flexible regarding the approach that Glasgow will take – whether it is a slow game or a fast one.  

“We have to expect both. If they want to play quickly we have to be good enough and if they slow it down, then when we can control the tempo we have to control it to our tempo. The 50% time we have the ball we have to play how we want to play,” White said. 

Meanwhile, in team news, the Bulls have been boosted by the return to the starting team of fit-again captain Ruan Nortje and flanker Marco van Staden for the match.