VIDEO: The head games that can seal the deal at Loftus
The Bulls’ team psychologist, Henning Gericke, will have a busy week as they prepare for their United Rugby Championship semifinal face-off against the Sharks.
They will go head to head at Pretoria’s iconic Loftus Versfeld, with a sell-out crowd of 50,000 expected on Saturday.
Gericke, who also assisted the Bulls’ Director of Rugby, Jake White, during the Springboks’ successful 2007 World Cup campaign, will help the team address historical perceptions and create a shared purpose.
The Bulls do not have the best track record in URC finals.
The caveat is that in the only URC play-off between the Bulls and Sharks, a quarterfinal face-off in 2022, the Pretoria franchise was victorious 30-27.
However, White has already been reminded of his team’s finals failures – a 16-21 loss to Glasgow Warriors last year and a 13-19 reverse to the Stormers in the inaugural season in 2022.
The Sharks do have a statistical edge, having won five of the nine URC encounters between the teams from Pretoria and Durban.
“What more can you give a team, when you label or the perception is that you are a choker?” a quizzical White asked.
He said he avoids all the negative conversations that will swirl around in the media this week.
“You want to ensure that when they [the players] get these opportunities to be in these big games, that they learn all the things that didn’t work and all the things that did work [in previous finals],” White said.
He added that he would not be talking much about the past and what to avoid.
(WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White talks about how his team can shed the ‘chokers’ tag….)
“You need to encourage the other side [positive aspects,” he said, adding that he will focus on the aspects the Bulls were good at.
“We want to play in the Final and win the Final.
“We’ll focus on whatever we learnt along the way, myself included.
“Sometimes it is me. Sometimes I need to look at what we did, who came on, and how much time they get.
“I am happy that, after four years, I can put reserves on, put another front row on and give a guy like Keagan Johannes a run at No.10.
“He will continue to kick at goal, even though he feels he is not striking it properly.”
The Bulls boss reiterated that he won’t be focusing on past failures.
“What happened in the past is irrelevant. It doesn’t matter.
“We are in the semifinal again. We have beaten Leinster in the semifinal here [at Loftus] and we beat Leinster in the semifinal away [RDS Arena].
“Maybe the semifinals have been the best weeks in the years that I have been coaching here.
“We have to go find what worked and make sure it becomes the best week again.”
He said negative phrases like ‘lose’ and ‘remember this’.
“That brings all the negativity to the thought process, instead of positivity.
“There are just two South African teams left in the [URC] competition and the Bulls are again at the top of the table [the highest placed SA team].”
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