White lauds Bulls’ conditioning and character in win on the road

Bulls coach Jake White has lauded his side for their character after turning a second half deficit into a winning lead against the Lions in a Super Rugby Unlocked match at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Lions looked to be in the pound seats with a halftime lead of five points, but a sometimes brutal effort by the Bulls pack in the first 15 minutes of the second period put the Lions in their place, and turned the game in favour of the visitors.

The intercept try scored by Bulls centre Stedman Gans – after Lions captain Elton Jantjies threw a wild pass on his own goal-line – proved crucial in the Bulls’ 30-25 win.

White was once again pleased his side were able to “win” the second half, to see them home – soemthing they have done regularly this season.

“We were poor in the first half, but played very well in the second half,” said White, “and if you consider that in all the games we’ve played we’ve won every second half convincingly, that’s great for us.

“Conditioning-wise (we’re right up there) and there’s an upwards curve which is what we want,” he said.

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White, however, questioned some of the Lions’ tactics, to take them out of their stride, but also admitted the home team effectively disrupted them.

“The backrow they picked was to get in there and spoil and it became scrappy,” said White. “But at times I thought they (the Lions) got it right, but at times they were fortunate the law didn’t go against them,” he said.

White pointed out that in one period of continued attack by the Bulls, the Lions infringed four times, which made it difficult for the Pretoria-based team to get going.

“It was their goal to break the rhythm of our attack and they did it quite well, but we weren’t accurate enough in our set-piece,” he said

Lions coach Cash van Rooyen admitted there were one or two “system errors” on their side that proved costly.

While centre Wandisile Simelane probably scored the try of the season and both teams scored three tries each, Van Rooyen admitted there were small margins in the game, and the Lions had been found wanting in certain areas.

“We can learn from that but if we don’t, we need to get real honest and very harsh,” he said.

But having put the Bulls to the sword for the majority of the game, Van Rooyen believed an 80 minute effort was just around the corner. “The forward pack especially showed courage for 80 minutes,” he said.

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