Despite being dejected after his side’s Challenge Cup campaign came to an abrupt end at the weekend, Bulls director of rugby Jake White is delighted with how they finished Saturday’s match against Edinburgh.
The Scottish outfit proved too strong for the men from Pretoria in an entertaining encounter at Hive Stadium as they clinched a narrow 34-28 victory with both sides scoring four tries apiece.
Edinburgh dominated the early exchanges and raced into a 31-7 early in the second half before the Bulls launched a late fightback but eventually fell narrowly short as their hosts hung on for victory.
Bulls to build on the positives
And although White was disappointed with the end result, he saw some positive signs from his charges and believes they are moving in the right direction.
“We showed that in the last 30 minutes of today’s game that we are good enough to win against any opposition,” White said after the match. “We just need to find 80 minutes of good rugby.”
An early converted try from David Kriel was the only reward the Bulls had after the first 45 minutes as Edinburgh held a comfortable 31-7 lead by that stage.
The visitors finished stronger, however, and a penalty try along with further five-pointers from Cameron Hanekom and Kriel set up a tense finish but they could not haul in their opponents, who will now face Bath in the Challenge Cup semi-finals.
Disappointed to finish on losing side
White could not hide his disappointment after the match.
“We are disappointed because we really wanted to win this game and you could see by the way we fought until the last minute that this team genuinely wants to win trophies,” he added.
“What more can a coach want. You’re 31-7 down and you lose with the last play of the game that was a turnover in the opposition 22.
“There isn’t a nice way to lose but there are a lot of positives we can take from that game.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/jake-white-sets-bulls-target-and-makes-bold-declaration-after-challenge-cup-exit
