Bulls are a lot smarter in 2019
SUPER RUGBY REACTION: Schalk Brits has revealed how the Bulls’ tactics and hard work on the training field all came together during his team’s 30-12 Super Rugby victory against the Lions on Saturday.
It was the Bulls’ first Super Rugby victory against the Lions at Ellis Park since 2012.
Flyhalf and captain Handrè Pollard played a major contribution to the Bulls cause on Saturday with six penalty kicks at poles and one successful conversion taking his points tally for the game to twenty points.
“From a general perspective we came out and executed our plan quite well,” Brits told reporters after the game on Saturday.
The Pretoria based team used some brutal physicality and the ball carrying abilities of their forward pack to draw in the Lions’ defence before they varied their play with an accurate kicking performance from Pollard who allowed the backs to compete for the ball in the air and out wide.
Brits explained that these tactics were exactly what the Bulls had in plan for the Lions and it paid off handsomely on the field.
“We wanted to match and dominate from a set-piece point of view.
“The coaches came up with very clever plans to not only use brute force but also being a bit clever from an attacking perspective and our defence held up to a very good attacking side, so it was a great execution of the plan.
“Polly [Handrè Pollard] was fantastic running the show. No.10 and No.9 gave us as forwards a bit of breathing space and we executed in certain places where we wanted to drive and certain places where we wanted to kick to actually save energy for our pack and we played against a very good pack,” explained Brits.
Commenting on his flawless kicking display, Pollard praised his pack of forwards and his entire team for putting in the hard work to allow him to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
“It’s my job, it’s what I’ve got to do.
“The team expects it from me and it’s what the coach expects from me. Going into a World Cup year we all know how important that [goal-kicking] is.
“It’s a funny game – it can go south pretty quickly so you got to keep working hard but the pack and the rest of the team working hard gives us those opportunities,” commented Pollard.
The Bulls next game is a Super Rugby Round Four clash against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria next weekend.
The Bulls have a bye after that game and Pollard emphasized the importance of taking winning momentum into the break before they resume their Super Rugby campaign with a clash against the Chiefs.
“This is great for us, but we got to back it up next week. If we can go three out of four going into the bye, rest up and hit those next four games then we should be in a good spot,” said Pollard.
By Josh Isaacson
@isaacson_j
@rugby365com
