Why the Bulls can’t take their foot off the pedal against Glasgow Warriors
OPINION: The Bulls have often been guilty of starting well and taking their foot off the pedal later in the game, and while it wasn’t the case in their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against Munster, that issue should be non-existent when they take on Glasgow Warriors in the semifinal at Murrayfield on Saturday.
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The Bulls scored 31 points to Munster’s 14 in the first half, with the hosts running in four tries before the break and adding two more in the second half, while they kept Munster scoreless after halftime to secure a 45-14 result.
Their most recent match aside, the Bulls have made a habit of getting out of the blocks quickly and not sustaining that effort.
Fast and sometimes high-scoring starts are typically followed by a significant drop in intensity, with the Bulls’ execution, defence, discipline, and attacking vigour often dipping in quality as the game progresses.
They did well to cut out that part of their game against Munster, but the ultimate test will be against Glasgow Warriors. It will then become clear whether the Bulls have truly deactivated that second-half snooze button.
For one, there’s the travel factor.
The Bulls won’t enjoy the luxury of playing at home; they will be playing in front of a raucous Murrayfield crowd that will be fully behind the regular-season top seed even if they aren’t at their Scotstoun base.
The only real difference will be the pitch – while Glasgow’s home ground has a synthetic, 4G surface that has proved troublesome for South African teams, Murrayfield is a grass turf.
So, that’s one less thing for the Bulls to worry about.
But the three-time URC finalists won’t need any reminding of what went down when they hosted the Scotsmen in the 2023/24 Final at Loftus.
The visitors won 21-16 after trailing by six points at halftime and going scoreless for most of the first half.
A more recent memory will be how they went down to Franco Smith’s men (12-21) at the start of the season after leading 12-7 in the second half.
Those rather unpleasant trips down memory lane alone should be enough to galvanise the Bulls, but past match-ups aside, Glasgow have consistently shown why they have been the team to beat this season.
For the Bulls, the way they went about beating Connacht in the quarterfinal after the scores were locked at 7-7 at halftime should be the biggest focus.
As has been the case many times, the 2024 URC winners again orchestrated a second-half surge against the Irish team as they scored four of their five tries after the break.
Considering that, the Bulls’ ability to go the distance and produce an 80-minute performance will prove decisive.
The Bulls can stamp their authority on the contest with physicality and a dominant forward and set-piece performance, winning the collisions, stopping Glasgow’s quick passes and halting their attacking attempts to go wide.
And doing so for 80 minutes will not only keep them in the game but also go a long way in preventing Glasgow from playing theirs.
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