Jake White’s Vodacom Bulls had an awful start to the league. They fronted Leinster in Dublin first-up and took a pounding. It immediately asked questions of their Currie Cup success, as incumbent champions, and the doomsday prophets came out in force.
White was pragmatic in his response. He acknowledged Leinster, applauded the quality of their game and told the South African media that his players now knew what was needed to secure a play-off spot and also what the standard was to win the league.
White’s boys would suffer more despair in the first month on tour, and while they won against Cardiff Rugby after a fabulous last 40 minutes, they were always behind the black ball in the league.
There is a confidence about these players that isn’t inflated because of home support because for so much of the league Covid restrictions ensured there was no stadium crowd attendance.
Vodacom Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee spoke of winning at home and White spoke of a winning habit and this is exactly what happened once they started hosting teams. Many visitors got smashed at Loftus Versfeld as the hosts combined attitude with the altitude factor to post some huge scores.
The Bulls were raging and Coetzee and White were beaming.
There were stumbles, most notably losing to southern rivals the DHL Stormers in Pretoria and Cape Town, but even when they lost 19-17 in Cape Town, White was bullish in declaring that his boys would be in the final eight and that they would be contenders for a home play-offs.
White’s charges delivered, on the promise of a play-off and a home quarter-final, and they only lost one of their last nine URC matches. They are unbeaten since 9th April.
STAR PERFORMER
Madosh Tambwe has been electric on the wing. He is poetry in motion on attack, his defence is sound and his appreciation of field position cannot be coached.
Tambwe adds buzz to any stadium audience and whenever he gets the ball there is an expectation of the impossible. The only time you hear a sigh of disappointment is when he passes the ball.
He is one of those players that commands presence and he scores tries or creates try-scoring opportunities in the biggest moments.
DECISIVE WIN
Jake White will tell you that every win is a divisive win, but in the context of the season, the most telling victory was beating a powerful Ulster outfit at Loftus.
Ulster were smarting from a narrow defeat against the DHL Stormers in Cape Town and were insistent that they would leave South Africa with a victory. For 40 minutes, in an outstanding first half, they were true to their word as they dictated proceedings in Pretoria.
Come the second 40 and the Coetzee-inspired Vodacom Bulls changed gears to turn a deficit into a 34-16 victory. It was their best 40 of the league season and confirmation they could beat the biggest teams in the league.
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Rugby is a team game played with an oval ball that may be kicked, carried, and passed from hand to hand. Points are scored by grounding the ball behind the opponents’ goal line (thereby scoring a try) or by kicking it between the two posts and over the crossbar of the opponents’ goal.
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