Stedman Gans says the narrow escape in the home win against the Lions gave the Vodacom Bulls a reality check ahead of the rematch in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Bulls will travel across the Jukskei on Saturday for the second leg of the derby against their provincial rivals at Ellis Park.
Jake White’s team survived an almighty scare to come away with a 30-28 win at Loftus Versfeld, where the Lions missed an overtime penalty that would have given the visitors an upset victory.
Having sat out that game, in-form midfielder Gans is determined to help the Bulls put on a better performance and continue their run at the top of the SA Shield.
“In that game, we didn’t stick to our processes and that made it very difficult,” Gans admitted. “We need to play in the right areas and stick to how we want to play. Then we will give ourselves a good shot.
“We are looking forward to it. The Lions put us under pressure in a few parts of the game, but we think we’ve rectified it, so we need to go out and test what we’ve worked on during the last couple of weeks.
“They have attacking threats all over the park. They are a well-rounded team, very hungry, you can see they are a team that cares for each other. With [Sanele] Nohamba at flyhalf they have a good kicking game. They can put you under pressure in many different ways, like they did to us.
“There’s not one thing they do exceptionally well, but they do a lot of things well. That’s what puts you under pressure.”
The win against the Lions saw the Bulls climb into fourth place before a two-week mid-season break.
Gans welcomed the opportunity to recover from a few heavy knocks and work on the intricate parts of the Bulls’ gameplan, before a big push for a top-four finish in the second half of the season.
“As the season goes on, you tend to fall into bad habits, focusing more on your opponents and how to counter what they do,” Gans explained.
“A time like this is a great opportunity to re-visit those small things. How we want to run our shape, what options we want to pick, those conversations happened a lot during these two weeks.
“We need to stay focused on the next task. This is a long competition. We always used the analogy of climbing Mount Everest. If your eyes are on the top, you’re going to miss the small step in front of you. That’s our mindset, focusing on what we need to do next and not thinking that we have achieved anything.”
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
