Lyon win boosts Bulls ahead of 'month of hell'

The Vodacom Bulls may have beaten Lyon by the skin of their teeth in their opening Heineken Champions Cup game, but the fact their gamble to play a “second string” side paid off has left them in a stronger position going into their “month of hell”.

And it is likely the same side will be heading to Exeter this weekend to face the Chiefs in their second European outing and first game away in the big league.

The Bulls face a difficult month ahead where the travel requirements will be tougher than it ever was in Super Rugby, especially as they fly via Doha for all their matches.

This weekend they will leave players at home for the mouth-watering clash against the DHL Stormers just before Christmas, as well as some of their coaching staff that will prepare the team while White is away on Champions’ Cup duty.

After Exeter, it is back to Cape Town for the Christmas clash with the Stormers, then a new year’s clash with the Sharks before returning to Wales to face the Dragons.

Then its home for their Heineken Cup date with Exeter at Loftus before returning to Europe for a Champions Cup clash with Lyon and then a Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with Scarlets before the players will get some time off.

All in all it is a hectic schedule and it is understandable why White has split the squads. Whether it will pay off in the long run is still to be seen, but the win over Lyon certainly makes it a bit easier to go with the two squad strategy.

“I think we are in a good position. Everyone spoke about the B-team and it was good motivation for those guys as well. The bench, even if they came on late, there were five forwards who were 22 years or younger, and two backline players that young,” White said.

“Not to be arrogant, but as I said to my wife, I think we did enough to win. I don’t think if we would have lost it would have been a fair result. We made mistakes that brought them back into the game, but again this team has been training three weeks together and it was always the plan to give them game time in this competition, and the fact they got five points against a good Lyon team in the Heineken Cup, even if it is at home, is amazing for us.”

PLAYER MANAGEMENT CRUCIAL

The other problem is that White has to manage players who are only allowed - in the collective agreement with MyPlayers and SA Rugby - to play a maximum of 32 games a season.

That means playing the same side over and over may mean that when it comes to the business end of the season, the choice of who to select may be taken out of the Bulls' hands as some players may have already played too much rugby. And that’s not something anyone wants, so White is right to be cautious.

“Luckily we don’t have too many test players but if you take test rugby, then the URC and the EPCR and let’s not forget we take the Currie Cup very seriously here at the Bulls. So when you do your sums, there is no way the same group of players can play Currie Cup, URC, EPCR and if some of them play test matches. It means you could get to the back end of a competition where SA Rugby says you can’t play them,” he explained.

“The plan is - I’ve worked it out and I’m going to stick to it. I think these boys who have just beaten Lyon are chomping at the bit to go on tour and play against Exeter next week. The plan is clear and the boys have bought into it. I gave them the plan when they came back from holidays. Barring injuries, I’m going to try to get two teams that are competitive and are going to win.

“It’s a fantastic position to be in as a coach because everyone of those guys is going to say they want to play in as many games as possible.”

The team will train at Loftus Versfeld until Tuesday before leaving for Exeter on Tuesday night while the “other side” stays at Loftus and focuses on the Stormers.

Considering the Bulls lost three times to the Stormers last season - including the URC final - it is also understandable that White is looking for a win in Cape Town.

• The Bulls are also waiting on news of Jacques du Plessis, whose rotten run of injury luck continued when he left the field against Lyon with a suspected hand fracture in his first match after a long layoff with an achilles injury.

Marco Jansen van Vuren injured his patella and the Bulls are waiting on a diagnosis to know how serious the injury is.