Why Jake White is happy to take Bulls to Cape Town for URC quarter-final

Bulls coach Jake White believes there are plenty of positives to take out of the fact his side will face arch-rivals, the Stormers, in the United Rugby Championship quarter-finals next weekend — despite the fact the Stormers hold a 5-0 win record against the Bulls in the URC over two seasons.

By finishing sixth on the points table, the Bulls will take on the Stormers, third, in a quarter-final at the Cape Town Stadium on May 6, at 3.30pm.

It will be the sixth meeting between the teams since the inception of the URC in 2021/22, with John Dobson’s team winning all five previous encounters.

Travel factor

“One of the positives of taking on the Stormers is that we don’t have to travel (abroad) and are at home (in South Africa),” said White.

“We can travel (to Cape Town) on the last day and not have to go (overseas) early in the week, which can be disruptive. And then you’d also have to take an extended squad.

“Also, as last season’s champions, and having played the Stormers so many times, we know what to expect.”

White added there would be a lot of confidence in his squad after they got themselves into a must-win scenario over the last few rounds of the competition, which included big wins against Zebre and Leinster to qualify for the playoffs.

‘Knock-out rugby’

“We’re very happy we’re in the playoffs. When you start a competition you want to be playing in the back-end of it,” said White.

“And there’s been a lot of pressure in the last few games. We had to win, so that’s also a blessing I suppose, the fact it’s been knockout rugby for us.

“When you’re losing, there’s always a lack of energy, and doubt creeps in, but in the last few weeks we’ve not only won, but we’ve played really well.

“We’ve managed to get our game to where we want it to be … and we’ve shown that our style of play can beat any team, because the teams we’ve played against have all asked different questions.

“We’ve played against teams in the Currie Cup, against Zebre and Leinster in the URC, and we’ve kept our structure and shape … and that will have created confidence going into the playoffs.”

White said the competition now took a different turn in that every team would have to beat three big sides in the playoffs to go all the way.

But looking beyond the Stormers for the Bulls wouldn’t be wise.

“Every team has to beat three big teams now to win the final. I think we would have to go to Dublin for a semi-final (possibly against Leinster), when it would be nice for us to go to Dublin for the final.

“For us it would be to beat the Stormers, Leinster and Ulster to win the competition. We’re not earmarking the Leinster game, we’re going to have to be good in all three.”