VIDEO: Nomlomo not looking at standings
VIDEO: Following an impressive 50-34 victory of Western Province in the fourth round of the Currie Cup at Loftus on Saturday, the Bulls surged to the top of the standings but their head coach Phiwe Nomlomo is not someone who is plagued by table standings and points.
Rather, the skills guru is firmly focused on helping the Bulls bring through the young talent at the union with the help of the seniors around them.
The 38-year-old Nomlomo, who is a qualified teacher, was lured to Pretoria by Jake White in 2023 after spending five years at the Sharks in various coaching roles with their United Rugby Championship side.
It seems the former SA Schools A coach has settled in quite nicely at the Bulls.
He was the first to admit the Bulls did not have the best start to the game as their sloppiness was exploited by the visitors to race to a comfortable 27-10 at half-time.
“We’ve got youngsters that we want to bring through.
“And it was beautiful for us because we wanted to be put in difficult situations,” Nomlomo said after the match.
“We emptied our bench early on because that was the plan. The guys had to do their job and then there was someone else coming on to finish.
“The biggest learning for me was we can play, we don’t have to wait for the second half to play.
“We could have been more brave early in the first half.
“It was a spectacle, everyone enjoyed it for what it was.
“I don’t think we need to read anything more into it.
“They strangled us [in the first half] and I thought they kicked incredibly well,” he commented.
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After a yellow card to Nizaam Carr and some injuries early in the game, the Bulls went on to score six second-half tries, four of those in 15 minutes of utter dominance after the restart.
When they hit the 53rd minute, they took the lead and closed out the game as victors.
“The solutions we got at half-time were beautiful.
“I honestly don’t think about logs because it’s such a long competition.
“So for us, today was important to play at home and give a proper performance that we are proud of.
“There are things we could’ve done better in the first half, second half we rectified a lot of things and I’m not just talking about the score.
“I am talking about our accuracy and intent and we said we wanted to be ruthless.
“We are challenging the senior guys in our squad to really step up, the growth of the younger players very much depends on them,” he concluded.
