White looks to channel Bulls hurt

One loss won’t define a season, but for the Vodacom Bulls after their loss to the Hollywoodbets Sharks on Saturday, it threw up a whole lot of red flags for them to address.

The side still sit in third spot, but missed a golden opportunity to put some distance between them and the Sharks in the SA conference, as well as overtake Glasgow Warriors in second spot.

And more than that, it was another home loss - which when put together with the losses against Northampton Saints, Glasgow (in the URC final) and Munster in the last 12 months brings up questions about the Bulls’ home fortress mentality.

It is clear the Bulls felt they missed an opportunity on Saturday, but credit must be given to the Sharks for again sucker-punching their opponents and showing that even without a number of marquee players they can win away from home. While the Sharks aura is growing, the Bulls one took a step backwards.

White knows this and knows these are the types of games the team needs to win if they want to go one better than their appearance in the final last season. Asked how does he pick up the Bulls after losing like they did on Saturday and he had an easy answer.

PLAYERS WILL BE DOWN

“That's probably why coaches get picked to coach,” he smiled.

“And, yes, they (the players) will be down. And there's a positive to that because it means that it hurts them and it means it means something to them. And all we've got to do is just meet on Monday.

“There's nothing you can do. It's not going to define us. I mean, we've lost games along the way and still got to the playoffs and still got to the end of the competition.

“That's part of the coaching that we're going to have to talk about. And that's why we sit with the players. No one's blaming anybody. I mean, we had our chances and played against 13, then 12 men, and then we got a scrum penalty and turned it over by giving a penalty away.

“And that, again, kicked in the corner, didn't score. There are so many things I think we can still improve. That'll be at the back end of the competition. We've just been, I suppose, a bit naive in thinking it was just going to happen.”

BETTER RECORD AWAY FROM HOME

White agreed when it was put to him the Bulls had put up better performances away from home this season than in their limited appearances at Loftus, and that needed to change.

“It is strange, but it's not something I'm not used to. I was at the Brumbies, we won 11 of our away games. I think it was a record for super rugby.

“So, that's obviously a thing that you try and do well, is when you play away, that you also can play your best rugby. It is disappointing for us at home and it's disappointing for our supporters. Supporters want to come and see the team win.

“They have seen them win, yeah, many times. So, when you don't get it right like that, it's not just the loss, it's the performance and it's the opportunity that you miss getting more supporters to come and watch us.”

White added that while the Bulls have built an exceptional setpiece, they can’t expect to win games on that alone.

“We scrummed and we mauled them to pieces. We can't be known as a team that just scrums and mauls everybody and then not get a result. So that'll be my message on Monday - I just don't want us to be a team that goes into our shell and we always think we're going to scrum penalties and maul penalties and therefore we'll win the game.Because the rest of the game today was the part that let us down.”

From White’s words, it is clear the Monday review will be brutal, but sometimes tough love is needed in a situation like this.

With the Lions waiting this weekend at the same venue, the Bulls will need to show a response. Identifying the problem is the first step to fixing it.