‘They outpaced us’: White says Bulls can’t only be known for forward strength

Bulls director of rugby Jake White said though they “scrummed and mauled them to pieces” the Bulls were simply beaten for speed whenever the Sharks had a line break during their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash on Saturday.

The Sharks scored four tries at Loftus to earn a bonus point 29–19 win, and move to the top of the URC’s South African shield following the game.

Only one of these four tries was scored by a loose forward, but that was by flanker Tinotenda Mavesere, who following a line break outran the Bulls backline from just about the halfway mark to the try line.

Like wingers Ethan Hooker and Yaw Penxe, and fullback Jordan Hendrikse, he proved simply too quick to catch.

“They got like sevens rugby players at the back there. Once they got the line breaks it wasn’t like we could catch them,” White said.

Sharks stronger in pace man for man

“If you go man for man, that is the strength of that team. Grant Williams is really quick, Yaw Penxe is really quick, Jurenzo Julius is really quick. Lukhanyo Am has played outside centre and he’s played wing.

“It shows they’ve got genuine speed. Once that ball bounced incorrectly and it went into their hands it became a foot race. I can’t remember when last we were exposed from 50 yards out by sheer pace.”

He said pace was something that could not be coached but he would look at selection, combinations and game plans to prevent linebreaks in the future. Even so, there was only so much he could control.

The Bulls boss said perhaps if eighthman Cameron Hanekom had been available for the game his speed might have made a difference in filling gaps before they were created.

Bulls can’t only be known for scrums and mauls

“We scrummed and mauled them to pieces. We can’t be known as a team that can just mall and scrum… and not get a result.

“That will be my message on Monday: I don’t want us to be a team that goes into our shell and we always think we are going to scrum penalties and maul penalties and therefore win the game.

“The rest of the game was the part that led us down.”

He said even against 12 or 13 players, the Bulls looked like a team that did not have enough variation.

“Maybe we just got sucked in to thinking that every call at scrum and line-out was going to get us a win.”