‘Massive’ win in Wales a big confidence boost for Bulls — captain Nortje

Given the pressure they were under after three successive losses, and the disruption of coach Jake White’s illness, the Bulls’ victory last weekend against the Dragons in Newport was an excellent result and a timely confidence boost ahead of this weekend’s Champions Cup clash with the Exeter Chiefs, captain Ruan Nortje said on Tuesday.

“The Dragons game was massive for us,” Nortje said. “We were under a lot of pressure, me personally, the team and the management. I was very happy with the character that was shown.

“Obviously it was not the best performance, but I was especially pleased with our discipline because the wind was crazy. Plus it’s never nice not having your coach there, coach Jake was not lekker for the whole week.

Read more: Bulls’ Jake White undergoes emergency surgery, takes break from coaching

“We let ourselves down in the two derby games, that hit us hard. Everyone knows how big a factor confidence is in rugby, you lose three in a row and you feel like the worst team in the world.

“But now we have so much more confidence, especially with an away win. It definitely helps a lot to have that reassurance that we are good enough to be here,” Nortje said.

Soul-searching

The defeats to the Stormers and Sharks prompted some soul-searching amongst the Bulls. And Nortje, while delighted with the way his team responded against the Dragons, knows they should have won by more and that has given pause for more thought this week.

Read more: Bulls back to winning ways with win over Dragons

“We’ve had some good, deep talks and I’m glad the guys took it so well against the Dragons,” Nortje said. “We lost the battle up front in the two previous games, and for the Bulls that is very sore.

“So there was a big emphasis on physicality. Exeter want to take you on up front, they want to kill you and outwork you, for phase after phase. In 2020 they won the Premiership and the Champions Cup, so they are a world-class team.

“So we need to keep the number of penalties as low as possible and it’s going to be a massive physical battle. We need to step up in all departments because it was not one of our best performances against the Dragons.

“We left a lot of opportunities out there, we made a lot of errors. The ball was very slippery, but we need to be more focused,” Nortje said.