White full of praise for young Bulls prospects

Bulls coach Jake White has been able to run the rule over his young assets in the last two games and he declared himself well-pleased after they secured an impressive 48-31 win over the Pumas in Nelspruit on Tuesday night.

Only eight members of the squad that won the Currie Cup final have been involved in the preparation series matches against Eastern Province and now the Pumas, as White has chosen largely youthful line-ups comprising the fringe talent at Loftus Versfeld.

“What I’ve enjoyed the most is that this team has an average age of 22,” said White.

“A guy like (prop) Jan-Hendrik Wessels is still under 20, (lock) Reinhardt Ludwig was still in matric last year at Affies. So I’m chuffed we have some nice depth going forward and this will be a good team if we can keep them together.

“There was some over-eagerness, with tighthead props and scrumhalves taking tap-and-goes and then knocking on, but that’s the thing with youthfulness and having a young side – they can make mistakes.

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The Bulls led 27-17 at halftime in Nelspruit and stretched that lead to 41-17 on the hour mark, before conceding two late tries, but White said he still valued the defensive effort in the second half.

“I’m sure neither defence coach will be that happy with the first half,” White said.

“We gave them 17 points in the first 21 minutes, but then they did not score again until the 70^th minute, even though I’m sure (Pumas coach) Jimmy Stonehouse gave them a rev at halftime and it was always going to be difficult for us in the second half. Our defence was much stronger in the second half.”

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