White wants Bulls to turn Grand Slam moments into Championship gold

The Vodacom Bulls know how big their victory in Limerick against Munster was on Saturday night, but now the challenge is how to turn that win - and others like it - into Vodacom United Rugby Championship gold.

The Bulls know full well that victories like Saturday’s - as impressive as it was - mean little unless you can back it up at the end of the season, and they also know they will receive a real test of their abilities this Friday when they take on defending champions Glasgow Warriors.

But they also know that certain milestones count towards a bigger picture and Saturday night’s win, as close as it was, was another one of those for Jake White’s team.

It was the Bulls first win in Limerick at Thomond Park against a Munster side and it also completed a unique Irish “Grand Slam” in beating all four Irish teams in the URC this season.

Home victories against Ulster and an under-strength Leinster, as well as an away win against Connacht in Glasgow complimented this win and allowed the Bulls temporarily to sit second on Saturday night before going back to third when Glasgow beat Zebre Parma later that evening.

“It’s massive, not just because we beat them, and because it is the first time a South African side has beaten all four Irish sides in a season, it is also the first time that Munster have lost to a South African side at home,” White said afterwards.

“I knew it was going to be an 80 minute slog. I knew it was going to go down to the wire and we needed this sort of momentum going into the playoffs. Next week it doesn’t get any easier, we play Glasgow, who beat us in the final.

“What we couldn’t afford was to play badly against Munster and then go into next week after we played and lost to Edinburgh, and lost to Munster. From a momentum point of view, a confidence and momentum point of view it was very important to us.”

The defence was outstanding, not the least because of a 17-phase onslaught that the Bulls had to endure in the final minutes to ensure the win, but because of the energy and attitude in those final minutes in week three of a long tour away from home.

“Especially that last lot. We had to keep them out, by not giving a penalty away, by keeping them out, we showed a lot. I don’t want to be negative but in the past we maybe would have made one or two mistakes there and let ourselves down.

"But we are going to have to defend like that for the next few matches against some really good teams for 80 minutes, not for four,” White explained.

But the coach also added that this is a stepping stone, and a necessary one in the context of their season, where they have at times played in fits and starts. It now needs to be used, and the steps forward need to be ones that set the Bulls up for a good run in the playoffs, which makes Friday’s game even more important.

“That's why I’m so excited, because you could see the Bulls really wanted to win this game. I know it is a cliche that someone wanted it more than others. That’s a rugby cliche. You can see when we have to go to 84 minutes to keep Munster out, then that is character. You can see why a lot of teams don’t come here and win, because Munster don’t make it easy for you.

“For us it is massive, it is huge. Because of the context of where we are in the season and because of the context of what we are going to have to do in the next couple of weeks. We want to win this competition.”

And the real test is to now turn these moments into championship gold.

“I’ve always said this is a talented team. The golden nugget for me is how we turn where we are into champions. We’ve lost two finals, in every competition we have played in we have gotten to the playoffs. The challenge now is how we are going to convert those opportunities in the playoff games into wins.

“I am sure it will come, because in those final minutes you saw there was a desire to win as well. When you combine those two - a desire to win and talent as we have shown, and our team is growing more mature and older, I’m sure it is something we can use in our favour going forward.”

The Bulls move to Scotland on Monday, looking to soak up the atmosphere before their Friday showdown at the Scotstoun.