Cape Town - The Bulls may have lost at the death if Edinburgh had slotted a late penalty, but there were enough encouraging passages of play to please coach Jake White in Saturday’s nail-biting 33-31 United Rugby Championship victory at Loftus Versfeld.
Having led 15-0 at one stage, the Pretoria side would have expected to see out an easy victory, but it was not to be as the Scottish side hit back and fullback Henry Immelman had a chance to clinch a memorable win with a penalty after the hooter, but he pushed his attempt wide.
The Bulls, though, stayed in the fight in the face of a concerted attacking onslaught from an Edinburgh side filled with Test players, with veteran flyhalf Morné Steyn coolly landing the matchwinning penalty from about 50 metres out and close to the touchline.
“You are saying exactly what I just told them (Bulls players). None of the front row have played Test rugby, nor the reserve front row; the locks are relatively young. We still have one of the youngest teams in the competition,” White said.
“We will get better, and this sort of result – when you get a win after not playing well – is also something that helps you speed up that process.
“What more can I say about Morné: it’s almost like he’s been born to kick those kicks. He seems to love those pressure situations.”
Captain Marcell Coetzee set the tone with another busy performance, while the usual suspects such as Elrigh Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Ruan Nortje and Cornal Hendricks made significant impacts across the pitch.
But the Bulls’ one-on-one defence was rather poor, and that allowed the visitors to score five tries – with wing Darcy Graham grabbing a hattrick.
It’s something that has to be addressed before Friday’s clash against Connacht at Loftus Versfeld (6.30pm kick-off), who also play a possession-based style.
“There were times that I thought we were outstanding. We defended certain sets, like three, four, five phases perfectly. Then all of a sudden, we missed a tackle and were chasing each other again,” White said.
“Then attack-wise as well – there was a moment there when we were chasing and trying to score a try from the halfway line. We kept the ball for phase after phase after phase, and our attack looked really good.
“Then we’d make a poor pass … I think there was a pass that went behind David (Kriel), and it was on. If David had caught that – the timing was just wrong – we would’ve got outside them.
“I’m repeating myself: this is a young team. We mustn’t get ahead of ourselves. We are far from where we need to be, experience-wise. But saying to them, we found a way to win, to show composure …
“I’ve coached for a long time, and some teams would lose there. Some teams would be in basically the same situation and accept that it’s not their day. And yet, with four or five minutes to go, we could still win the game.
“That’s a massive bonus as a group … a massive confidencebuilder as a group too.”
Louw got stuck in as a ball-carrier and defender on his return from the Springboks, and now the Bulls are relishing the prospect of KurtLee Arendse, Canan Moodie and
Sbu Nkosi being available against Connacht following the end of the Rugby Championship at the weekend.
Meanwhile, the Stormers got their URC title defence off to a solid start with a 38-15 victory over Connacht in Stellenbosch, but it came at a cost as winger Seabelo Senatla sustained a “serious injury” to his shoulder and pectoral muscle in the final quarter of the Stormers’ opening game at the Danie Craven Stadium on Saturday.
The Sharks hung on in Parma, Italy, for a dramatic 42-37 win over Zebre Parma in the Durban team’s opening game of the new URC season.
And the Lions edged the Ospreys 28-27 in a tense encounter at the Swansea.com Stadium in Wales.
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