Bulls coach emphasises silver lining despite another defeat
REACTION: Bulls XV head coach Phiwe Nomlomo took the positives from their 26-50 defeat to the Stormers XXIII in Round Six of the Currie Cup on Friday.
The Bulls are still winless with one round remaining in the tournament, and will be desperate to finish on a high next week against the Sharks to avoid the unwanted record of going through a Currie Cup season winless for the first time in history.
Nomlomo was disappointed with the result but highlighted the positives he could take from the match in the broader scheme of things for the union.
“Yeah, we have to look forward to next week now. We weren’t good today at all. We had another second half performance,” Nomlomo conceded.
“The scary thing is we finished with 13 Under-21 players on the park, and the only senior guys there were Keagan [Johannes] and Hakeem [Kunene], and Vlokkie [Christiaan Vlok] is a club player at No.12.
“When you look at it, the whole pack was an U21 pack. You could see the guys were trying, although we leaked 37 points in the first half.
“There’s clearly something that’s happening in the second half that’s good. We’re not getting it right at the beginning of the game; that’s a concern.”
Continues below…
Nomlomo added his concerns regarding an ongoing trend in his team’s performance this past season and expressed his frustration for not being able to fix it throughout the tournament.
“Performance doesn’t require rhythm; it requires the man in the jersey to step up, and that’s something I feel we don’t always have.
“We lose [concentration] lapses in the worst parts and times of the field. That’s why in the back end of [games] our concentration is up; we know we need to make the passes stick and score tries.
“That’s why we are suddenly so much better. Last week I spoke about mental fragility, and again, we weren’t good enough.”
Your home for rugby. Download the RugbyPass app on the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android) now!
Follow your favourite teams, tournaments and players, and get personalised news and Match Centre notifications direct to your device.
From live rugby streams and upcoming fixtures to breaking news, in-depth analysis and live scores, RugbyPass has everything you need to stay connected to the game.
