VIDEO: How Bulls will go about upsetting Glasgow in Champions Cup
REACTION: Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann was a relieved man after his team’s 34-31 win in Round 14 of the United Rugby Championship against Munster, but their focus is on the next job at hand.
The Bulls will now shift their attention to the Champions Cup Round of 16 clash against Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors – a team on top of the URC table and unbeaten in the pool stage of the EPCR.
On the flipside, the Bulls sneaked into the Champions Cup play-off picture after suffering three defeats against Bordeaux Begles (33-46), Northampton Saints (5-50) and Bristol Bears (49-61) before a narrow away victory against Pau (26-24) gave them a lifeline in the play-off race.
Ackermann said the Bulls have nothing to lose and that they’ll give it their best shot to advance to the semifinals, where they could face local rivals the Stormers in the quarterfinals should they overcome Toulon in their Round of 16 clash.
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“If we’re in the play-offs in the EPCR [Champions Cup], we must give it a go and give it our best shot, and then we’ll take it from there.
“Glasgow is the next challenge, but we’ll need to be better than we were today [Saturday].
“They’ll definitely punish us if we defensively make the errors we made today, so they’ll be a massive challenge.
“They’re probably the best attacking side in the competition, so we have a big challenge ahead of us, but we’ve got nothing to lose.
“We’re going to go there and really go hard and give ourselves an opportunity [to win].
“If we progress, that would be great. I think then we’ll have to give it [Champions Cup] a run.
“We can’t control what happens after that. When we return to the URC, we’ll have to play our [best] team available.
“At the moment it’s a privilege to play in a Champions Cup Round of 16 match, it’s one of the best competitions in the world, so we’ll have to give it our best [shot].”
*Also read: Papier stars again as Bulls hold off Munster in Loftus thriller
Former Springbok loose forward Nizaam Carr went off in the 56th minute in quite a bit of discomfort.
Ackermann confirmed that he won’t be available for the Round of 16 clash but didn’t clarify how long he would be sidelined.
“It looks like he strained his hamstring, so I doubt he’ll be able to get onto the plane.”
Ackermann confirmed their plans to manage the players and have them as fresh as possible when they come up against the Warriors this coming Saturday.
“We’ll have a light training session on Monday to put a few plans in place for Glasgow, and then we’ll fly out on Monday evening.
“Tuesday will be a chill day to get the players’ bodies rested, and Wednesday we’ll have a training and recovery session to get the players’ bodies intact after the flight.
“On Thursday we’ll have a tough session, and Friday will be the captain’s run before Saturday’s clash.”
Embrose Papier dancing through 💃🏉
Making a serious case for the TOP EIGHT SPOT!@Vodacom #URC | #BULvMUN pic.twitter.com/5IqrVVDa4j
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) March 28, 2026
