Nizaam Carr has cautioned the Vodacom Bulls against underestimating Benetton when the teams lock horns in a must-win Pretoria rematch on Saturday.
Jake White’s charges face Benetton at Loftus Versfeld in the final eight of the Vodacom URC this week, and victory for the Herd will see them host a semi-final next week.
The Bulls rampaged to a nine-try rout of the Italian outfit on the Highveld in round 17 but to their credit, the visitors scored five tries and finished the game strongly, dotting down twice in the final 15 minutes.
Marco Bortolami’s troops also finished regular season with a flourish as they eased to a 31-6 triumph over Edinburgh in Treviso and speaking in a Bulls conference on Tuesday, Carr acknowledged the threat of the URC dark horses.
“Benetton scored five tries against us a few weeks ago and they are a dangerous side on attack, so if we can keep them out it’ll be a good day for us,” the loose forward told reporters.
“They will look at those last 20 minutes when they came at us and base their game around that; they’ll want to have a go. They’re going to come and throw everything at us, but we’re preparing well and are aware of it.
“Physical dominance and winning the gainline [battle] is going to be key, and if you don’t do that any team playing against you is going to get front-foot ball and make it difficult for your defence.”
The Bulls have scored the most tries (85) and points (639) this season in the URC, and Carr emphasises that the team won’t change tack in the playoffs if they can help it.
“Any opportunity we get where it’s kickable we need to take the points, because Jake has mentioned to us it’s knockout rugby and any 22m entries is really important to take the points,” he said.
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“We don’t want to play to not lose, we want to play to win, and that’s the mindset we have. We also want to go out there and express ourselves.
“What has been working for us in training is absorbing a lot of pressure, and as soon as we get turnovers we have the personnel to spread the ball wide, and the interplay is really good.
“Benetton thrive off the loose play and if we can match that, it’ll be a really good day for us. They have a never-say-die attitude and are going to keep coming no matter the scoreboard, and we’ve experienced that. We need to be wary of that.
“If we become complacent then things can really go the other way. We need to stick to the job at hand.”
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
