Online Reporter
It goes without saying that Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White was a happy man after his side turned an almost certain loss at home to Leinster into a win in the flip of a scrum and a last minute penalty.
But it didn’t hide the fact that the Bulls have a lot to learn in terms of streetsmarts when it comes to this year’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign.
The Pretoria side still sit handily in third spot, and will be counting on the fact that no team that has finished top in the competition in the first three years of its existence has won it. But as the heat starts to turn up and the Bulls know things will get tougher, they will need to look inward to what they can do to stop them from being their own worst enemies.
White didn’t mess about when asked about some of the decision-making in the game, which he said was “stupid” and then reiterated that players have to learn from their mistakes or the team is likely to go nowhere in this year’s Championship.
“We need to be more smart. We can’t be stupid and think that we are going to get to the back end of the competition and win it if we don’t make better decisions in those situations,” he said after the last gasp win.
“It’s stupid things, stupid – unbelievably stupid. New Zealanders talk about game smartness, and I think that is the bottom line. You’ve got to understand where you are on the field, what the score is, what your job is.
“That smartness is also something a player has to learn. You can’t coach him on every single thing about his role.”
But White wasn’t about to let the negatives go untouched, and indicated it will be a massive talking point at the review. This is not the first time the Bulls have had to struggle with 14 men this season, and whether justified or not, any coach would be pulling their hair out if disciplinary issues cost you the game.
“I’m proud of the way they fought, and the bench came on and made an impact. But I’m also not sweeping anything under the table. The reality is that it’s just because of our actions. Four times we’ve given penalties away for playing the nine – three of those were yellow cards.
“Today, we play the guy in the air: red card. You take everything away from the effort the other guys put in to get back in the game. For 80 minutes, even with 14 men, they found a way to win. And let’s be fair – that’s what sport is about. The good far outweighs the negative. But I’m not going to condone red cards, yellow cards, stupidity. Because when we get to the knockout stages, we will lose those games.” — SuperSport.
