VIDEO: Jake's comparison of URC to Super Rugby
WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby shares his thoughts comparing Super Rugby to the United Rugby Championship competition.
White has been around the block in terms of coaching at elite levels of the game.
At a club level, he had coaching stints in Japan, Australia, France and South Africa.
He was also a technical advisor for the Tongan national side.
His biggest accolade he will be remembered for is being the 2007 World Cup-winning coach of the Springboks.
White took charge of two Super Rugby sides during his illustrious coaching career.
He coached the Brumbies between 2012 and 2013 before taking charge of the Sharks in 2014.
He took the Brumbies to a Super Rugby Final in 2013 where they lost the match with minutes to spare through a late try by Robbie Robinson.
White also led the Sharks to a Super Rugby semifinal a year later where they fell short to powerhouse outfit the Crusaders in Christchurch.
Now the mentor for the Bulls, White had led the Pretoria-based outfit to a third URC Final in four years.
White was asked ahead of the showdown with Leinster how he would compare winning the URC to Super Rugby and he gave an interesting answer.
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“I would say it would be exactly the same because in South Africa winning is part of what every franchise would want to do.
“I’m not talking from a standard point of view. People have had this debate whether Super Rugby is anything [compared] to URC.
“The achievement of winning something when you’ve spent as many weeks as any team has in preparation for a game like this becomes as important as any other competition.
“Super Rugby is much shorter. This is a long drawn-out competition with EPCR thrown in between.
“My answer is very simple. Having coached in Super Rugby – I wasn’t lucky enough to win it but made it to a Final when I was at the Brumbies.
“It’s as big for any player playing in any tournament to win silverware at the end.
“That’s why the talks in the media all week were about Leinster saying that it’s serious because everyone wants to win some sort of silverware.”
White also addressed the ever-growing interest of the South African rugby public in the URC and why the Bulls need to win the tournament.
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“One of the things that’s interesting and I’ve been around a long time, they [South African fans] didn’t buy into Super Rugby when we joined it either.
“They didn’t understand it. They didn’t know who the guys from Waikato [Chiefs] and Otago [Highlanders] were.
“And as time went on they got a better feel for how Super Rugby worked.
“In terms of URC, they’re still not sure how it all fits in.
White added: “I do think in time they now realise that it’s a phenomenal tournament and you’re seeing the best players in the world.
“It’s no different from when Super Rugby started to take off.
“They could see Christian Cullen playing for the Hurricanes and Jonah Lomu playing for the Blues.
“Let’s be fair, we’re playing Ireland tomorrow [Saturday]. It just so happens that they’re wearing a different colour jersey this weekend but we’re playing Ireland.
“And that’s probably why South Africans are tuned in because they know these players as Irish internationals.
“I’ve gotten some messages from back home. People are supporting the Bulls.
“People in Cape Town and Durban are supporting the Bulls. That’s like Munster supporting Leinster tomorrow [Saturday].
“That’s just what happens when rugby fever hits. They bought into it and it’s no different to how it happened in Super Rugby.
“It’s still not there and I must stress, we had the Cheetahs playing in Amsterdam in the Challenge Cup.
“The supporter who lives in Bloemfontein can’t figure out why his team is not playing at home but in Amsterdam.
“I do feel that it will happen in time and we need to win this tournament because it’s going to help our [South African] public take it even more seriously.”
