VIDEO: What Bulls need to do to break URC drought
INTERVIEW: Former Springbok centre Gcobani Bobo unpacked what he feels the Bulls should do to finally break their trophy drought in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
Bobo addressed the media alongside former Ireland international Simon Zebo at a URC Round Table chat on Tuesday.
The Bulls have featured in four URC Finals (five if you include the Rainbow Cup) without success since the tournament’s inception, when the South African franchises ditched Super Rugby to move into the Northern Hemisphere.
They fell short to Leinster last season for the second consecutive time in the Final.
Since then, they have bolstered their squad with players such as Thaakir Abrahams, who replaces Kurt-Lee Arendse and Bok Curwin Bosch as a backup option for Handre Pollard.
Bobo feels the Bulls sorted out issues they had ahead of last season’s campaign and that their recruitment will play an integral part in any potential success this season.
“It’s been a very difficult time for them, especially with the change [in coaching] from Jake White.
“Last season, they were a bit surprising in terms of how they made it to the Final.
“I recall chatting to Johan Ackermann eight weeks before the [2025/26] season started, and he was still unsure about his supporting [coaching] team.
“Those were issues that the Bulls had to sort out. I feel a good off-season will help them, and they’ve recruited well.
“They now have Handre Pollard and any team that can call upon a player of his calibre in a play-off can give themselves a chance, and he hasn’t been in the mix for the last few seasons.”
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The former Bok centre also highlighted the areas the Bulls should fix that have been their Achilles heel in recent years, and also added that it’s something all URC franchises should look at implementing.
“One thing about the Bulls is that the games that they’re expected to win, they always lose, and then somehow they tend to upset bigger teams away from home.
“That’s where they need to start looking at in terms of their performance and consistency.
“The one thing the South African teams and all the URC sides in fact need to do is start targeting and protecting their nine home matches.
“That gives you 45 [log] points maximum if you get five points per match; that is key to build on away games, and perhaps win another four games on the road.
“That’s 13 wins, and that gives you a good chance to be in the play-offs. Those are the things all teams will have to start thinking about.
“How they load up at home and get experience and points when they’re away on tour.”
The Bulls kick off their URC campaign on the road against Zebre and Munster, respectively, before returning to Loftus Versfeld for their first home match of the season against their Gauteng neighbours, the Lions.
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