VIDEO: 'I promise you, we will be back' - Jake White
VIDEO: A dejected Jake White, Director of Rugby at the Bulls, said his team will be back after they were beaten 21-16 by a Glasgow Warriors side that seemed to have the perfect plan in the United Rugby Championship Final at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Hindsight is a perfect science and today White will probably be thinking should or could they have done anything differently?
The moment that turned the game was just before half-time when Glasgow’s Scott Cummings powered his way over the line to close the deficit to 7-16. It annihilated the Bulls’ confidence.
The Warriors produced a masterclass in physicality against a young Bulls side who persisted with their game plan of trying to bash the mauling kings with their forwards.
The home side’s one-off runners were tackled backwards and there was no way through. Yet they continued with this plan of attack throughout the second half despite not finding any holes in the strong Warrior’s defence structures.
“I’ve been in rugby for a long long time and credit to them. They defended really well. Some of our big ball carriers got tackled backwards,” White acknowledged.
“But we’ll be back.
“If I’m really honest about where we are -three years, two Finals, a really young team.
“Every guy that came on for the Glasgow Warriors is international.
“And we are not there yet.
“So, there’s no nice way. I told them in the changeroom. When you get an opportunity like that, when you get older, you realise that sometimes you miss an opportunity,” White told reporters at the post-match conference.
That Cummings try was a sore point for the coach, who acknowledged that wrong decisions could have cost him the title.
“And when I look back…39 minutes, maul, should we have held that ball back, maybe there was a penalty to us and then it’s 16-0 up.
“We break away, they get a penalty, they kick in the corner, it’s 13-7.”
The Bulls went into the Final as the top try scorers of the URC. Their 80 tries was a new record.
But on the night only the strong Marco van Staden managed to barge his way through the tough Warriors defence to score his side’s only try.
The other strong man in the Bulls line-up, Wilco Louw, was denied a try by the TMO, who deemed he was held up by Rory Darge.
“It’s probably tougher for me. As I get older I start to work those things out in my head.
“But we will be back.
“I know – I’ve already marked [it], we are playing Glasgow away, I already know the date.
“And, that’s all I can say.
“There is nothing I am going to say that is going to make it any easier.
“We lost away to Stormers, we lost at home. I don’t think anything I say is going to make it any better.
“I lost a Super Rugby Final in Chiefs, lost a Rainbow Cup in Benetton, lost two URC Finals. So I’ll probably have to look at what I have to do as a coach to try and get over the line.
“I’ll think about it.
“But I also want people to understand what this young group has achieved in three years to play in three Finals and a quarterfinal last year.
“I can’t rush the goalie – I can’t make it any quicker than it is.
“That Glasgow team have got of guys that are internationals. Their whole pack played internationals and then they play Six Nations against England and France.
⚔️ The masters of the maul, at it again!
Too powerful from @GlasgowWarriors to cut the deficit 👀 #BKTURC | #URC | #BULvGLA pic.twitter.com/JE8bfQutXh
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) June 22, 2024
“So they are probably a little bit more seasoned, a little bit more aware of what’s happening.
“And the margins are small.
“As a coach, as a guy who has been around, as a coach who understands, all I’m disappointed in for them is that you get a chance and you don’t take.
“Not because they didn’t try, not because they did anything that I can point fingers at.
“It’s not nice and it is something we are going to have to learn, but I can promise you, and you can take this to the bank, we will be back.”
