VIDEO: White's call on late changes - 'I'm not saying I was going to cheat'

WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White questions the laws of the game in regards to making late changes due to weather conditions.

The Bulls went into the match as heavy favourites to beat the Stormers in the return United Rugby Championship fixture following their victory over their arch-rivals in Cape Town last month.

The hosts ultimately went down in a tightly contested match by 16-19, and White had a clear explanation of where things went wrong for his side.

“It’s easy, in the first half our line-outs were a bit shoddy and then we never won any aerial contests the whole game.

“Every time there was an up-and-under, we were probably less efficient than the Stormers.

“It’s easy to make excuses, but it’s one of those things.

White added: “They kicked well and put us under pressure.

“That try [from Wandisile Simelane] that came – they [Stormers] isolated Sebastian [de Klerk], we knocked it on and Paul de Wet put it on the foot and Simelane used football skills to score against us.

“We probably never got the ball bouncing – it happens sometimes.

“The ball didn’t really bounce into our hands, and when it did, I think two or three times we won it, we knocked it on at the next phase.

“The conditions didn’t make it easy, but we probably made it hard for ourselves.”

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Should the game not have gone ahead due to inclement weather, the match would’ve either been rescheduled, or the teams would’ve shared two competition points each.

White explained why his side did not go for a draw when they had an opportunity and opted to go for the line-out and try to win the game.

“We could have drawn that game at the end, and we decided to go for touch,” White said.

“Who knows, maybe we kick a long-range penalty.

“We had a chance earlier where we could’ve kicked for the draw and went to touch.

“I just said to myself, one of the permutations of not playing today [Saturday] would be two points each – and we wanted to try and win the game.

“We wanted to try and win the conference [shield].

“It’s quite ironic. It could’ve still ended up in a draw, and in hindsight, it probably would’ve suited us because we wouldn’t have had three injuries.

“It just shows you, it would’ve been two points without injuries – now it’s one of the tough things because you lose.

“It is what it is – you lose Canan [Moodie] in the fourth minute, and he’s probably the best under the high ball for us in our team.

“We lose Cobus Wiese, and we lose [Marco van Staden] within 47 minutes.

“That comes with a break in rhythm and cohesion, and we did well to retake the lead after 60-odd minutes.

“We just couldn’t win the aerial battle and get our line-out going in the beginning.”

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White outlined the risk versus reward factor of deciding which bench make-up would’ve worked best for his side following three early injuries that worked in the favour of the Stormers.

He also questioned why the laws don’t make provision for a late change if the conditions on the day might require doing so.

“It did – they [Stormers] could hold back [their bench] and we couldn’t,” White said when asked if the Stormers’ late replacements helped them.

“Basically, by 40-odd minutes, two forwards were gone.

“I sat today [Saturday] thinking, should we have gone with a six-two [forward] heavy bench.

“Tactically, while we were warming up when the game was delayed, I thought, should we try and change and say one of our backs got injured in the warm-up.

“The reality was, as it so happened, Canan went off in four minutes so we needed a five-three bench.

“For one, I’m not saying I was going to cheat.

“I’m just saying that it was going through my head, based on: was a six-two [bench split] that they [Stormers] had better than a five-three in those conditions?

“I’m always amazed why you can’t do that in rugby.

“In every other sport, you can do that – why if it’s delayed for an hour and a half belting down with rain [tactical changes are not permitted].

“We’ve changed so many laws and made the game so much better.

“Why is there no law where a coach can say in the warm-up ‘things changed so much, let’s go with a six-two, or let’s start with another prop’.”

“It was quite an interesting thing sitting in the changeroom for an hour and a half thinking: ‘Why don’t the law makers allow you to change your original team in the warm-up?”

“I would think because it’s unfair on the home and away teams.

“You’ve got your whole squad here and the other team that flew in have an x amount of guys.

“I would think that’s probably why they don’t allow you to do it.”