White praises youngsters for keeping Bulls in top spot

Bulls coach Jake White had every right to feel delighted that his team, despite playing with a new-look backline and a pack that has only trained together for three days in the last three weeks, were able to see off the high-flying Lions 22-15 in their Currie Cup clash at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday, ensuring they will finish top of the log.

It means the Bulls will be able to take on the Pumas in Nelspruit on Sunday with a second-string outfit and not risk any home ground advantage.

Having weathered a Covid outbreak and not played any rugby for three weeks, the Bulls can focus on getting ready for their semifinal against the Lions on January 15/16.

“I expected us to struggle because we were playing with four U-21s in the backline with basically a whole backline unable to start, and we’ve hardly trained because of Covid. We only had three days together,” White said.

“So it was always going to be difficult – it was always going to take time to get going – but I must compliment the fightback. We didn’t have the ball at the start but once we had it I knew we would start believing.

“I’m very pleased. Finishing top of the log is great for us and it means we can play our best team against the Lions again in the semis.

“Given our circumstances, we were not going to be able to afford to play everyone for 80 minutes so the bench would always have to come on and make an impact, and they did, which is always nice to see.”

White acknowledged that Covid was still causing vacancies in the team as players took varying lengths of time to complete their recoveries.

So while there will certainly be changes for the Pumas game, some players are simply not yet match-fit enough to be considered.

“For a lot of guys, their return-to-play protocols are not yet good enough so I’m not sure yet what sort of team I will field against the Pumas,” he said.

“I’ll sleep on it and see what the niggles and injuries are like after this game. A lot of guys have now tested negative but still have to go through the return-to-play protocols, which measure things like heart-rate. For some of them it was too much of a risk to put them in a game situation.

“Hopefully they will all be fine in another 10 days time for the semifinal, but there’s no guarantee. We don’t know how long it will take when it comes to these respiratory things.”

The one thing that can be guaranteed when the Lions return to Loftus, however, will be another suffocating physical display by the pack and a watertight defence.

“We want it to be difficult to play at Loftus but you’d have to admit our forward pack, in all departments, hasn’t always been up to expectations,” White said.

“The Bulls want their pack to dominate and I’m chuffed that people can see the Bulls pack has definitely taken a step up. And I’m very happy with the defence too because the Lions are a very good attacking side.

“To defend like that – and with a new group of players – was very pleasing. Not many teams have come here and scored many tries, which is good for us. To have such a good defensive performance and with new personnel was great.

“It’s defence coach Joey Mongalo’s birthday today so I’m sure he would have really enjoyed that and will be celebrating.”

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