VIDEO: Bulls keen to have another crack at Cheetahs

As the sententia goes: ‘Seven days is a long time in the game.’

The Bulls know exactly what they need to improve to avoid a repetition of their (27-31) loss to the Cheetahs when the two teams meet in a rematch in the Currie Cup semifinal this coming Saturday.

Despite racing into the 19-0 lead after 14 minutes in their Round 14 encounter at Loftus Versfeld this past weekend, the Bulls not only saw their advantage evaporate, but they also suffered a near-catastrophic loss.

Two bonus points – one for four tries and another for losing by seven points or less – saw the men from Pretoria sneak into the semifinals ahead of arch-rivals Western Province.

And it earned them a trip to Bloemfontein for a rematch with the Cheetahs.

The Currie Cup team’s backline coach, Hugo van As, said they know what aspects of their game were the most costly in the loss.

(Article continues below the Hugo van Asd interview …)

Van As said he does not feel the Bulls need to do anything different from what they did in the weekend’s loss.

“This team is hungry and desperate,” he said about the team loaded with United Rugby Championship players.

“They showed a lot of desire to hang in there,” Van As said about the loss at Loftus Versfeld.

“A lot of teams would have gone away [given up] after what happened – when we lost Elrich [Louw to a red card in the 37th minute] and Emmy [Embrose Papier with a hamstring injury in the 61st minute].

“[It shows] this side is hungry and the fact that we are in the semifinal [motivation] will look after itself.

“We just have to be more clinical.”

He spoke of the need to fix their quandary at the breakdown, where they simply conceded too many turnovers.

“We were beaten at the breakdown and although we had a great opportunity [to win the game] at the end.

“We will have to look at how we can make [better] use of those opportunities.

“We don’t get many opportunities and we have to be more clinical in that regard.”

He said it is up to the leadership group and ‘decision-makers’ on the pitch to make the calls about when to set line-puts and driving mauls, or when to take penalty kicks at poles.

“Come semifinal time I am sure the players will make better decisions.

“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. We will back then as a coaching staff.”

Defence is another aspect of the game the Bulls need top step up, having dropped to an unacceptable low of just a 75 percent tackle success rate this past weekend.

“We had some soft moments and we will address that,” Van As said, adding: “That should not be a problem next Saturday.”