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Bulls prepare for a 'loud', intimidating welcome at Bayonne

rugby02 April 2025 15:05| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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Jannes Kirsten © Getty Images

Much of the Vodacom Bulls hopes of progressing in the EPCR Challenge Cup hinge on their ability to handle pressure - especially away from home.

And this weekend’s Round of 16 clash against French side Bayonne is no different as the Bulls are in for another intimidating stadium in front of a partisan crowd that will be baying for their blood, both literally and figuratively.

The clash is a mouth-watering one, especially given the Bulls' good record away from home in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship this season and the fact they are prioritising the Challenge Cup as a top competition and are gunning for a victory this weekend.

So the team are preparing themselves for the hostile environment, but have good knowledge, having almost beaten Lyon last season in a game that came down to some strange refereeing decisions that favoured the home side.

This time around the Bulls know they will need to be a lot better to take any of those hometown decisions out of the game.

And one of their most experienced members - flanker Jannes Kirsten, who won the Investec Champions’ Cup with Exeter Chiefs, believes the team will be ready, no matter how hostile it is.

“I think it will be a hostile environment, because you get passionate support here and the stadiums are usually full,” Kirsten said.

“It’s loud. If you think of the game, the lineouts can be overwhelming.

“We kind of have to prepare differently in that way and make sure that the right calls come through. I don’t know much about Bayonne and haven’t played them before, but by the look of things it is going to be a big set-piece battle.

“The usual French sides have a big pack of forwards and and they like to maul a lot. We and Bayonne haven’t won anything . For both teams, it’s going to be a fight until the death to move onto the next round.

“It’s a playoff and we’ll be fighting to move onto next week. We are seeing the next few weeks as a kind of a playoff mentality and we need to do anything to win.”

'BLOCK OUT THE CROWD'

The Bulls have a dollop of confidence after their big win at home over Italian side Zebre Parma and are hoping that form can carry through to this weekend.

“Last week we prepared well, especially at the breakdowns, as Zebre came with all sorts of things - for instance lying on the wrong side to slow the ball down, and things like that,” Kirsten said.

“Those are things you need to prepare for. Bayonne may be a bit different in how they try to break your momentum. On attack, we will just have to adapt and I believe we have plans that will sort that out so that our rhythm isn’t broken.

“Zebre flourish with turnover ball, so our focus was to not give them a chance to get into the game, as we were playing at Loftus – we were at home where it’s hot and there’s altitude. We didn’t want to give them a chance to get momentum. We started well and later in the game we didn’t allow them to get back into match/

“So, it proved that we can do it and I believe we are fit enough. We are at the coast in France and it’s a bit cooler, so in terms of that we can take a lot of self-confidence out of that game.

“Hopefully we can deal with the French crowd, as that will be our biggest challenge: to block that out and focus more on ourselves. We need to do the first quarter of the game, and then the second quarter, and move on from there.”

The Bulls will name their side Friday, but are expected to field a strong line-up for the game.

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