What is next for Bulls after Croke Park massacre?

OPINION: The Bulls walked into the United Rugby Championship Final like lambs to the slaughter, and a frank look at the big showdown at Croke Park last Saturday does not paint a pretty picture.

To beat Leinter was never going to be an easy task.

Let’s be brutally honest – Leinster cruised into that Final with relative ease while it took everything out of the Bulls to grind out a top spot.

Given Leinster’s hunger to finally win a trophy since 2021, and playing in their backyard in front of a vociferous crowd, did not bode well for the Bulls from the outset.

The Irish giants finished top of the log three years out of four in the URC. At one point, they were sitting pretty at 20 points ahead of the rest, and they had the luxury of putting out a second-string outfit that could beat the big sides away from home.

They are a step above the rest and deserve every moment of the glory.

For the team on the receiving end,  the Bulls, nothing worked on the day. Leinster managed to nullify their usual strong point, their scrum.

Leinster’s scrum stood up throughout the game and ended up winning the battle.

Maybe that is the one area the Bulls didn’t worry too much about, and for Leinster, it was like taking candy from a toddler.

But the Bulls’ mistakes stretched much further than the demise of their scrum.

They put one-man chasers on every single kick, which only resulted in them aimlessly kicking possession away.

Leinster conclusively won the aerial battle and annihilated the Bulls in the breakdowns.

There is a question mark around the Bulls’ loose forwards. Is Ruan Nortje really a No. 7? And why did it look like Marco van Staden and Marcell Coetzee seemed to be in each other’s way as they quite literally bumped into each other a few times?

They looked hopelessly out of place against the Leinster loosies of captain Jack Conan, Josh van der Flier, and Ryan Baird.

Van der Flier outplayed all of the Bulls loosies by a mile.

And then, of course, there is the defence. Jacques Nienaber had no mercy for his South African opponents. If anyone still questions the quality and credentials of the former Springbok coach, go and look at the Final again.

It was a masterful display, and he completely outwitted the Bulls.

The Bulls’ Director of Rugby, Jake White, has been singing Leinster’s praises for the last three years and did so once more after the Final, expressing his need for better players to compete at this level.

“Dreamers are guys that think that you take youngsters and you just wave a wand and you beat international players,” White stated.

“I would like everyone to understand it. Just because you go to the dance doesn’t mean you’re going to get the main dance every time either,” the coach said.

“And playing in three finals doesn’t give you the right to win it. And there will always be opportunities. When I looked back at last year’s Final, there were chances.

“In the first final, we were very, very young and very new. And now we played against a really good, well-balanced, oiled side.”

The Bulls can look ahead to a new season with fresh faces joining them in Handre Pollard, Jan Serfontein, Nicolas Janse van Rensburg, and Paul de Wet. Will it be enough? Time will tell.

White will be away on leave and has a lot to ponder before the pre-season starts on September 27 against the Ospreys at Loftus Versfeld.

There are rumours that he could be on his way out with some international offerings on the table.

Is a possible reshuffle of the Bulls’ coaching structures on the cards?

A number of the Bulls squad will be joining the Springboks for the international season, including Handre Pollard, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Wilco Louw, Ruan Nortjé, Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Cobus Wiese, Willie le Roux, and Canan Moodie, while injured loose forwards Cameron Hanekom and Elrigh Louw are out for the rest of this year.