'It didn’t work out': Bulls suffer momentum blow
SPOTLIGHT: Bulls assistant coach Hugo van As admitted that his team’s plan to build momentum ahead of their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal “didn’t work out”.
The Pretoria side entered their Currie Cup match against Western Province in Cape Town over the weekend loaded with a lot of the URC stars that thumped Zebre and Leinster in previous weeks.
However, they were thoroughly outplayed by a young WP team on their way to a 7-31 defeat.
The Bulls will be back in Cape Town for this weekend’s URC showdown against the Stormers and it will be interesting to see if they can cause an upset against a team they haven’t beaten in the competition.
“Jake wanted to keep momentum in the team and it didn’t work out, but the next game will be a new challenge,” said Van As
“It will be a totally new challenge.
“The good thing about it is that they have all been here this week and the next game we will be in the same situation.
“I think there is a lot of positives that we can take out of the game and there is a lot of things that we know we need to fix.
“I am sure the full-strength URC team will benefit from the performance.”
#ICYMI: It will surely dent the Bulls’ confidence levels 👇#CurrieCup #URC #WP #Bulls #Stormers #STOvBUL #WPvBUL https://t.co/15E5OmcDhP
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) May 1, 2023
Underdog tag
The Bulls will be heading into Saturday’s encounter as underdogs, but that doesn’t mean there will be any less pressure.
“It’s a North-South derby and a quarterfinal of the URC, so there is going to be pressure,” said Van As
“No matter how you see it. There is a lot to play for, for both teams.
“I am sure that there will be pressure and I am sure that the crowd will be different.”
Van As admitted that his team got their tactics wrong against Western Province.
“We did very well in the last two games against Leinster and Zebre – although it wasn’t Leinster’s full-strength team and we saw what happens when their full-strength team plays.
“The team built up a lot of confidence from that.
“I think tactically we didn’t kick enough [against WP].
“We tried to run out of our own half and out of certain zones where we don’t want to run, especially in a game where they were rushing us defensively and putting our skill sets under pressure.”
@rugby365com
#ICYMI: The Bulls’ medical staff will be keeping a close eye on flyhalf Johan Goosen ahead of their United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against the Stormers. 👇https://t.co/8epyV0UkW5 #URC #Stormers #Bulls #STOvBUL
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) May 1, 2023
