- Bulls coach Jake White says his team showed moments of inexperience in Friday’s loss to the Stormers.
- The Bulls have now lost all four of their URC games against the Stormers.
- White suggested that Stormers coach John Dobson did not have to deal with the draft and rotation pressure demands he had as Bulls DoR.
Bulls director of rugby and head coach Jake White said “inexperience” was a factor in his side’s 37-27 loss to the Stormers in Friday’s heart-pounding United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at night at the DHL Stadium.
READ | Sparkling Stormers rock Bulls in Cape Town
In an epic North vs South derby that will be remembered for years to come, the Stormers rocked their visitors with three second-half tries in five minutes to deliver the knockout blow after the teams were tied 13-13 after the First half.
The Stormers were impressive in a game period that had 30,000 in the iconic stadium roaring at the top of their lungs.
The Bulls, however, were caught off guard and without answers, and the result means they have lost all four of their URC games against the champion Stormers since the start of the competition last year.
In his postgame news conference on Friday night, White answered a variety of questions that delved into the night’s performance, his drafting policy and the growing rivalry with the Stormers and their coach John Dobson.
The Bulls had played 20 minutes of the first half with 14 men after the yellow cards to Marco van Staden and Elrigh Louw, so they would have liked to be level at half-time, but the burden was spread by the locals between the 49 and the 53rd minute was too much to recover.
“I think we just showed moments of inexperience,” White said after the game.
“That’s the only disappointing thing I can think of. There was a penalty bunt on his line, where we have five or six plays that we make, but we bunt the ball and we run and hit.”
“Then he was making a substitution, and we got the times wrong where there was one less defender on the other side when they ran the ball from kick-off. [for Suleiman Hartzenberg’s try]so I guess it was through inexperience that there was a miscommunication.
“It was one of those games. We made three tries for four, but we seemed a little inexperienced with some of the action we had.”
White then pointed to the Dobson-led Stormers coaching staff, arguing that they had a much more cohesive experience at this level, while also arguing that Dobson did not have to consider the balancing act of managing a Currie Cup team as he did. . Bulls Director of Rugby (DoR).
However, Dobson will work closely with the Western Province Currie Cup team this season.
“We’re still inexperienced and we’re still growing. We’ve got a lot of evolution to do. The Stormers are probably the most experienced coaching staff in the whole competition. They’ve been together for eight, 10 years and some of them with the juniors as well,” White said.
“John Dobson doesn’t coach Currie Cup. I’m the Director of Rugby. I have to coach and make sure all the juniors, seniors and Currie Cup are available to play. If I was only coaching the senior team then I wouldn’t worry about who was available for the Currie Cup because it wouldn’t be my report I think it’s important that people understand my report as DoR.
“Western Province didn’t make the playoffs last year in the Currie Cup. Those are decisions I have to make and explain to my board. 32 games left. Considering some of the Springboks are out with World Cup camps , you’re going to have to box very smartly what teams you want to use and how many players you’re going to use.”
White’s selection policy has been put under a microscope in recent weeks after he rested several of his first-choice players for back-to-back European Champion Clubs’ Cup weekends, effectively reserving them for this game.
Still, he insists that the success or failure of that rotation can’t be measured by this result but rather by performance during the season as a whole.
This one hurts though, just like the 2021/22 tournament final.
“We’ve lost four times in a row to the Stormers, and we haven’t beaten them yet in this competition. It was important, and for any team that plays away from home in these derby games, you want to get the win,” he said. White.
“We can beat them. You can look at the stats however you want. Since I’ve been at the Bulls, we’ve beaten them the most times in the Currie Cup, Super Rugby Unlocked and all those games. It just depends on what you want.” I want to see
“They’re a good team. They’re the champions of this tournament. They have experienced players, a coaching staff that’s been together for eight years and it’s a huge advantage when you’re competing at the level we’re at.” competing in”.
Asked if he had any words for his Dobson counterpart, White replied, “Well done.”
The Bulls will be next in action when they travel to Durban to take on the Sharks at the URC on December 31.
