‘No added pressure’, says Botha, as Bulls target another major trophy

The Bulls are preparing to try and make history once again as they target becoming the first South African side to win the United Rugby Championship (URC) when they take on the Stormers in Saturday’s final.

The Bulls were the only South African team to triumph in Super Rugby, winning their first title in 2007 before adding two more in 2009 and 2010, and they will be eager to continue that proud history of winning major tournament finals.

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However, vice-captain Arno Botha does not believe history will put any extra pressure on them, insisting they will just approach the game as they have any previous final.

“We won’t tell ourselves that the Bulls won it in 2007, 2009, 2010, so we have to win this one. I think that’s unnecessary for us to do that, so I don’t think we will look at it like that,” Botha said.

“We might use it as motivation, but we are not going to put ourselves under pressure because of that. We will treat it like we have in our last two (Currie Cup) finals.

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“We must make sure we can control the things we can control in the game. You can’t leave anything behind,” he added.

“It is the last game of the season for most of the guys, although some might be able to have another crack if we make the Currie Cup final.”

Botha, who will be leaving the Bulls for France next month, is eager to end the campaign on a high, and having played the Stormers twice this season, he says they knows exactly what to expect and how tough a battle it is going to be.

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“We know what they’re going to bring. They want to make it physical up front and they have the forwards to do that,” Botha said.

“So it’s definitely something we will look into and try and capitalise on. We also have good and dominant forwards and it is a strong point for us.”