Clinical Bulls versus competitive Kings
The Blue Bulls will need to be clinical if they are to record their first away win of the season, against the Eastern Province Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke, speaking to rugby365 in the build-up to his team's Round Six Currie Cup encounter, dismissed the notion that the winless Kings are a 'soft touch'.
With just two wins from five starts, both victories coming at Loftus Versfeld, the Bulls remain 'desperate' to get their campaign back on track and remain in the hunt for a place in the competition's play-offs next month.
"That is definitely not our mindset," Ludeke said, when asked about a Kings' winless run in their first year back in South Africa's premier domestic competition.
"They are competitive in every game," he said, adding: "In our last encounter, [a 30-25 win by the Bulls] at Loftus, when they got quality possession they were very dangerous.
"For us it will be vital that we are very clinical, look after our [own] ball at the breakdown, we must kick well and accurate, while our first-time tackling is accurate."
Ludeke said that throughout this competition the Kings have showed how dangerous they can be as a team.
"Defence is a major point of focus for us [this week] and we must be clinical," the Bulls mentor told rugby365.
"We created great pressure this past weekend [a 36-26 win over the Lions] with accuracy. We got some early penalties as reward and also our tries, especially the turnover try when we ran out of our own 22, it [the accuracy] worked well for us.
"Those are things that are important for us, to ensure we build pressure [through accuracy] when we attack."
The coach also said the energy and determination they showed last week against the Lions were the result of the pressure that build on the Bulls in the last few weeks – after a run of defeats.
"It brought the best out in the players," he said, adding: "We are well aware of the situation we find ourselves in and we are a long way off from where we should find ourselves [on the standings].
"That was a good [against the Lions], but we require another good effort, similar to the effort against the Lions.
"If we produce the same determination, there is accuracy and the processes work, then you will get good results."
By Jan de Koning
