A "relieved" Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White questioned his team’s game management in their United Rugby Championship 30-28 win against the Lions in Pretoria on Saturday.
“I thought our game management at times was poor,” White said. “For all the experience we had in the backline, we looked as though we were pulling the trigger too quickly at times. We looked disjointed."
“But there are positives. We were 12-3 down and came back, eventually we were leading 27-18. I take that as a massive positive. Some teams would have panicked and not got back in the fight."
“But this is not the way we want to play. We gave them a try, when they went over the top of the lineout. We dropped the ball near the in-goal area. We kicked long and didn’t have a chase line. Sergeal Petersen kicked it too quickly. He marked it and I don’t know what he was thinking. He’s a senior player."
“He just kicks the ball straight down the field and Nohamba beats the first line and the Lions go on and score. There is a lot of learning there, but a win is a win and sometimes you need a bit of luck.
“There’s a lot of learnings there. But a win is a win. Sometimes you need a bit of luck. Maybe a year ago, Hendrikse kicks the ball over and we lose. Those are the margins. This can change the outcome of the rest of the season.”
“Sometimes golfers don’t hit every green or every fairway and they are still on top of the leaderboard and that’s similar to what we did.
“That’s not our greatest performance and we got a win.”
“It is one of those outings where we weren’t on top of our game, but we got away with that. I do need to reiterate that it was a 21-year-old who stole the last lineout and a 21-year-old who made a mistake by carrying through the line at the end. This is the only way they will learn."
“I am much more relieved. I am relieved that we were leading at half time, I am relieved that we could stay in the fight at the death, even though we were lucky that they missed that kick.”
The Vodacom Bulls' next match is on the 17th of February when they travel to Johannesburg to once again face the Emirates Lions at the Emirates Airline park at 15:00 (SA Time).
“The next two matches are derby games. We got them and then the Stormers here "
“Those are defining moments for the overall standings and it’s a defining moment for the SA conference," White said.
“We got a couple of tough weeks of prep, but we will have guys like Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse back. Hopefully, from a selection point of view, we will be in a good place to actually put some more Springboks on the field.”