The Stormers' mistake Bulls will avoid against Leinster
SPOTLIGHT: Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann doubled down on a key game aspect his team will focus on in preparation for a third consecutive United Rugby Championship Final on June 19.
The Bulls will face Leinster in a repeat of the 2025 Final at Croke Park after shocking Franco Smith’s Glasgow Warriors in a stunning come-from-behind victory in the semifinal after being 3-21 down after 24 minutes.
One issue which forced the Bulls to surrender an 18-point lead was losing Handré Pollard (8′) and Ruan Nortjé (24′) to the sinbin.
Ackermann knows all too well that they cannot afford to have a repeat of it against Leinster.
The Irish side sealed the deal in the final 10 minutes against the Stormers, who were playing with 13 players following a red card to Ruan Ackermann (68′) and a yellow card to Salmaan Moerat (69′), allowing Jamison Gibson-Park to score the match-winning try.
Ackermann highlighted how costly his team’s early yellow cards against Glasgow could’ve been and emphasised that they’ll need to be squeaky clean to finally get a Final’s victory over the line.
“It’s definitely something we’ll highlight to the players – discipline is important,” Ackermann said.
“We failed that test on Saturday against Glasgow Warriors if you look at the first half with those two yellow cards and giving them a 21-3 lead.
“Analysing Leinster – they mostly win every game they start fast and build a healthy lead, so we can’t afford to have that Ill-discipline.
“Either or – be it at the start or the back end of the match, especially if it’s a close contest.
“It’s something we need to ensure we get right in this Final to give ourselves a chance.”
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Ackermann added that the players are experienced enough to make good decisions within the framework of the lawbook and hopes that his team remains calm in what’s expected to be a pressure cooker situation.
“It’s unnecessary to put yourself under that [pressure] because we know what the law states regarding tackling, and we need to try and stay in that law’s [framework].
“Also, most of the time, if a player goes for an interception, if you don’t get it right, you’ll be penalised for a deliberate knock-on.
“So we’ll try to play within the laws and hopefully, with so much at stake in such a high-pressure match with so much emotion involved, we can keep calm and have good discipline.”
The Bulls mentor said he’s spoken to players who featured in the 2025 Final and will take note of what they said went wrong last year in preparation for the rematch.
“I’ve spoken to the players at the airport on our way back, and they’ve highlighted a few things they felt could’ve been part of the reason why they didn’t fire in the [2025] Final.
“I’m a big believer in keeping things simple and controlling what you can.
“We won’t change our build-up, our training volumes and times, etc, we will keep things simple.
“I will take note of those things they’ve mentioned, and hopefully we can get it right for them to be ready to put in a good performance.”
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