Following the Vodacom Bulls' dominant 52–17 victory over the Emirates Lions on 31 January 2026, head coach Johan Ackermann expressed significant pride in his team's performance, highlighting that their first-half execution "laid the platform" for the win.
The victory at Emirates Airline Park allowed the Bulls to leapfrog the Lions into seventh place on the United Rugby Championship (URC) log. Ackermann hailed the result as a "statement win" that confirmed the team's arrival for the 2025/26 season.
Ackermann admitted that the win over the Lions was "quite an experience" and was pleased that the result favoured the Bulls this time. He said that while the mood is positive, "there's still a lot of work to be done" as the season progresses.
“We’ve put ourselves in a good position, but we’ve achieved nothing yet. There are still a lot of quality teams to play. If we can keep enjoying what we’re doing and stay in touch, anything can happen.”
Ackermann said that the team successfully "mixed it up intelligently," balancing a powerful forward-led game with opportunities out wide when they arose.
“We wanted to mix it up a bit today, and I think the boys got the balance right. There were one or two opportunities out wide as well, but we felt the forwards were doing well, so we stuck to that.”
He pointed to the team winning several crucial early aerial contests as a turning point, describing them as "fine margins" that finally went the Bulls' way.
“The first few aerial contests went our way, and those are fine margins. There were games in the past where it didn’t go our way, so you take the wins like that. I’m just proud of the effort because it takes a lot out of you to play the way we did.”