Jake White: ‘I hope Bordeaux Bègles bring their best to take on Bulls’

Bulls director of rugby Jake White is anticipating Bordeaux Bègles to travel with their best players to the country for their Champions Cup showdown at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Things are still very tight in Pool 1; Bordeaux Bègles and Lyon have qualified for the knockout stages as they have 15 and 12 points each after three rounds, while the Bulls are in third place with 10 points and need a single point to secure their place in the last 16.

Bristol and Saracens are in fourth and fifth on the table with five points respectively, while Irish province Connacht are out of the running as they have one point.

The results from this weekend will have a big say in how things shape up in the knockout stages as teams will aim to finish as high as they can to secure home advantage for the playoff phases.

Facing French internationals

This is the main reason why White believes Bordeaux Bègles will rope in French internationals Damian Penaud, Yoram Moefana, Matthieu Jalibert, Maxime Lucu and Tonga’s captain Ben Tameifuna.

“I have no doubt that the way it’s set up, they are going to have to bring their main guys,” White said.

“And I say that if Lyon win and we get a bonus point and win by a lot of points, it could change the whole dynamic of who finishes where on the log. I take it as a given that they will bring their best players.”

The Bulls mentor says his charges will be tested as they won’t have their internationals to call upon this week.

“It’s a great test for us. I hope they bring their best players,” said White. “That will give us a good measurement of where we are as a group. We don’t have Marco (van Staden), Canan (Moodie), Kurt-Lee (Arendse) and Wilco (Louw) for the weekend as well. You take those guys out of the team and it’s a massive test for the next group.”

Altitude matters

Given how Bordeaux Bègles have shown to be a team that loves to run with the ball, White is hoping the altitude factor will come into play on Saturday.

“They like to keep the ball alive and run from everywhere, so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not they play with the same strategy considering they’ll play at altitude,” White said.

“It’s altitude, 3pm, different conditions to what they are used to. If they want to play quickly it might play into our hands, because as you know with altitude, if you land on Wednesday and play on Saturday, it has a different effect.

“Altitude does play a massive role and it is something you got to factor into your game.”