Jannes Kirsten of the Vodacom Bulls in action during the Super Rugby match between Vodacom Blue Bulls and Cell C Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on March 09, 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Anton Geyser/Gallo Images)
The Bulls were guilty of underestimating the Chiefs and were mentally soft, loose forward Jannes Kirsten has admitted as the team desperately tries to get back on track for their Super Rugby clash against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
The Bulls went into the game at the top of the South African Conference, while the Chiefs had not yet won a game this season.
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But the Waikato side thoroughly dominated the Pretoria outfit, securing a famous 56-20 victory, their first win at Loftus Versfeld since 2001.
“Maybe we underestimated them a bit, in which case we’ve learnt a hard lesson. There are no easy games in this competition, even the Sunwolves have managed a couple of wins, that’s what makes this tournament great, every game is quality. Maybe we allowed it to sneak into our heads that we were on top of the South African Conference and the Chiefs hadn’t won yet …
“We were definitely soft. We all now know where we fell short and where we have to improve, and it’s very important for us to win this weekend to make up. And we won’t take anything for granted from now on. We always want to win at home, so last weekend hurts a lot, we were bitterly disappointed with the outcome and a good win against the Sharks is the only way for us to restore our name,” Kirsten said.
Kirsten said the players feel they can confide in coach Pote Human, entrusted with the Super Rugby reins for the first time this year, as to why they were so flat last weekend.
“We’ve been hard on each other but the coach has handled it very well. He knows when to be strict and when he should not be too hard on us. But we need to put it behind us, there’s not much time to be sad, and now it’s the Sharks that are in our focus. We just want to put the loss behind us and look forward. We have to lift ourselves back up against the Sharks,” Kirsten said.
The good news for the Bulls is that the inspirational Duane Vermeulen should be fit after twisting his knee and leaving the field in the first half against the Sharks.
The bad news for Human is that he could have a problem at prop with replacement tighthead Dayan van der Westhuizen injuring his knee badly and starting loosehead Lizo Gqoboka complaining of a shoulder problem.
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