White on young Bulls team: 'We will get better'

REACTION: Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White is extremely pleased with his inexperienced team’s performance against Edinburgh on Saturday.

The Bulls recorded a 33-31 win over Edinburgh at Loftus Versfeld, courtesy of a Morne Steyn penalty goal in the 79th minute.

A late penalty attempt by Henry Immelmaan almost handed Edinbugth a win, but he pushed the kick wide and handed the Bulls their second win for the season.

“You got to work hard in these competitions,” White said, adding: “The margins are very small and the last kick was literally worth three log points. We would have gotten two log points now we get five.”

“I told the players you can’t underestimate how tough this competition is”

#REACTION: Van Rooyen is a proud man 👇#URC #Lions #Ospreys #OSPvLIO https://t.co/NJs3zCFIyx

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The Bulls took an early 15-0 lead thanks to tries by Johan Grobbelaar and Elrigh Louw, while Chris Smith added five points with the boot.

However, some troubling defensive display saw the visitors score five tries including a hat-trick by Darcy Graham.

“Not taking anything away from Edinburgh’s performance, every time we got a little bit of a buffer we made silly mistakes,” White said.

“We got ourselves 15-0 up, scoring relatively easily. I think the players thought it will be easy and it would just happen on its own.

“The one-on-one defence was an area we spoke about at half-time. I think we put them backwards once or twice and made it easier for ourselves in the second half.

“But Edinburgh is a team where if you do miss one or two tackles they will punish you.”

Commenting on the team’s overall performance, White said he is proud of his young team who managed to overcome a very tough Scottish side.

“Their pack has more Test experience than we have URC experience, so we have to be mindful of the fact they are not a team that you can beat convincingly.

“None of our front row have played Test rugby, nor the reserve front row; the locks are relatively young. We still have one of the youngest teams in the competition.”

He added: “We mustn’t get ahead of ourselves. We are far from where we need to be experienced-wise but to get a win when you haven’t played well will help speed up that process.

“We will get better.”