Vodacom Bulls coach Johan Ackermann has labelled the upcoming United Rugby Championship (URC) derby against the Lions on January 31, 2026, a "massive challenge". He wants his side to be more clinical and consistent, particularly after their previous encounter resulted in a loss.
The Lions previously beat the Bulls 43-33 at Loftus Versfeld in November 2025, a defeat that "hurt" the team. Ackermann is keen for his side to "go in and embrace the challenge" of getting a result in the return fixture.
“The big South African derbies are still the crowd pleasers. I think it’s just because it’s such a part of our DNA. There has always been a big loyalty to your local team. If there are no Tests you always get your top South African players competing, so the fans know there will be massive clashes and individual battles, and that collectively the teams are at their strongest. That puts it as close as possible to Test match rugby.
Looking ahead to the Lions, the coach said his team would not hold anything back.
“We must just go in and embrace the challenge. They were very good when they beat us at Loftus. It’s a massive challenge for us to now go to Ellis Park and see if we can get a result. We have to recover from our trip and make sure we are refreshed for what will be a highly physical battle.”
Ackerman emphasised that he is seeing the spark of something now coming together at the Vodacom Bulls that tells him they’re on the right track.
“I can see the growth in this team, and the Vodacom United Rugby Championship has shown us that nothing is impossible. We saw Munster in 2023 having to play their quarters, semis, and final away, and they did it and went on to win.”
Ackermann has stressed that the team needs more consistency over the full 80 minutes and must drop their error rate to get a result at Ellis Park. He noted the team missed several opportunities in their recent win over Edinburgh and must be more clinical going forward.
Ackermann said that against the Lions, he wants his charges to maintain their intensity rather than playing in spells.
“You seldom will have all the momentum or control the game for 80 minutes. But we can’t have those fluctuations, those massive highs and massive lows. It will help if we can get more consistency in our 80 minutes overall and drop our error rate.”