Bulls in need of more 'grizzled' leadership
Jake White is not about to hit the panic button and go into the market for an experienced captain for the Bulls.
The lack of grizzled leadership savvy was central to their collapses in the losses to the Stormers (27-37) and Sharks (20-47) in the past fortnight.
Ruan Nortje has been handed the Bulls captaincy, but his lack of experience has been evident in recent matches, especially this past weekend – when the Springbok-laden Sharks were constantly in referee Marius van der Westhuizen’s ear.
World Cup winners like captain Siyamthanda Kolisi, lock Eben Etzebeth and hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi are masters of the art of pushing the envelope and knowing how far they can go with match officials.
The ability to manage the referee and keep the team on the right side of match officials was sadly lacking in the Bulls team since the departure of Marcell Coetzee.
Coetzee, 31, played a pivotal leadership role as the Bulls upset European giants Leinster away from home (in Dublin) to reach the inaugural United Rugby Championship Final last year.
He played his last match for the Bulls – ahead of his six-month Japan sabbatical – in their 40-27 United Rugby Championship win over the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld in October.
Before that, the leadership of World Cup-winning Springbok veteran Duane Vermeulen, already into his mid-30s, was central to the Bulls’ back-to-back Currie Cup wins in 2021 – before heading off to join Irish province Ulster in September of that year.
It is a fact readily acknowledged by Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White.
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“We probably had the run of the green when we Duane Vermeulen captaining our Currie Cup team and we won those two titles [in 2021],” White said in the wake of his team’s loss to the Sharks at the New Year’s weekend.
The Bulls, despite holding a seven-point (13-6) lead after a commendable opening half-hour mark, ran into a Sharks team in a mean mood.
The home team pack turned up the heat and 15 minutes later the scoreline was 30-13 to the home team.
The pressure saw the Bulls’ discipline drop to shocking levels – 10 penalties and two yellow cards in the same period.
Another yellow card, Canan Moodie’s second yellow which became a red card, and 10 more second-half penalties added to another miserable day at the office for the Bulls.
The Bulls’ Director of Rugby, White, said an “older, wiser and more respected” captain is a benefit.
“You get one or two things that would have gone against you, maybe, [go] for you.
“It is part of the learning process,” he said of Nortje’s inexperience, adding: “You can’t fast-track it.
“It is not like tomorrow morning you get up and your players are older and wiser.
“They learn those things along the way,” he said of knowing how to manage match officials, adding: “It is time on the clock.
“It is painful to go through things like this.
“I’m confident I will get it right.
“I am confident, [in them], as a group. They work hard, they are a good bunch of guys, they hurting when they don’t do well and that’s all you can ask for.”
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