Stormers v Bulls: ‘Now it’s a new competition,’ says Jake White

Jake White says form will be meaningless and anybody can win on the day when the United Rugby Championship playoffs kick off this week.

In a repeat of the inaugural URC final at Cape Town Stadium, the Bulls meet the Stormers on Saturday in this season’s quarter-finals stage.

In the other last-eight games this weekend, Glasgow Warriors face Munster, Leinster entertain the Sharks and Ulster welcome Connacht.

The Stormers under coach John Dobson finished the URC regular season in third place and also defended the SA Shield. The defending champions will be hunting a sixth successive URC win against the men from Pretoria.

A Western Province side coached in the Currie Cup by Dobson earned a bonus-point win over the Bulls in Cape Town on Saturday. The win snapped a two-game slump for WP who jumped to fourth on the log, while at the same time clinching a rare double over their rivals, having beaten the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in March.

‘Stormers should beat us’

The winners will have landed an important psychological blow to their opponents in the build up to this week’s URC playoff and White, as Bulls director of rugby, is prepared for the formidable challenge facing his troops.

“Let me be clear, as the Bulls we still haven’t done anything in the URC. In all probability, the odds will tell you the Stormers should beat us [on Saturday],” he said in an official URC statement.

After suffering a slump of 10 winless matches in all competitions this season, the Bulls have turned a corner in recent weeks in the URC and their 62-7 thrashing of a weakened Leinster side at Loftus last weekend built on that momentum.

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“This season for me has been a little bit like playing on the Friday to make the cut [of a golf competition], where for the past two years for this group it’s been about walking up the 18th on a Sunday trying to win the tournament,” White added.

“This season has been about are we good enough, why do I have the yips in my putting, are we going to make the cut, we’re under pressure here. These are questions that have never been asked of this group of players.

“We had to make the cut, and we’ve done that. Now we have three games to win the competition. It’s just like golf with two days now to win it. And in golf, the one who just makes the cut compared with the player who is six shots ahead, there is no guarantee the player in the lead is going to win the competition. So now it’s a new competition.

‘Make sure you play in the playoffs’

“It’s irrelevant how many games you’ve won out of 18, or if they’ve beaten you in the pool stages. The point is now who plays the best at the back end of the competition. That’s why I’ve said all along, don’t measure us halfway through the competition.

“The first priority when you sign up to any competition is to make sure you play in the playoffs. That’s the bottom line.

“But all I can say is the resilience we talk about is much more meaningful to youngsters when it comes from a position of experience and having been through it. Sometimes, that’s what a team needs to move to the next level.”

This story first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission. For the original story click here.