Bulls director of rugby Jake White couldn’t hide his frustration after his side suffered a shock 30-21 Investec Champions Cup defeat to Northampton Saints at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The result puts the men from Pretoria in a precarious position in the standings as they are currently languishing at the bottom of Pool Three after they also lost their tournament opener against Saracens last week.
White revealed that his players are battling to understand the magnitude of participating in the Champions Cup and conceded that they were not good enough against Northampton.
“This is Test rugby in club or provincial jerseys and when you make a mistake at Test level you are made to pay for it,” he told reporters after the match.
“Look at what happened, we had a penalty just before half-time and it is our lineout, they chuck it over and get seven points. This is what happens when you play at the highest level and against some of the best players.”
Bulls players gaining valuable experience
White said the Bulls players battled to deal with the pressure but feels it’s important to continue to play them as it will help gain experience which will help his men further down the line.
“It is not something they [Bulls players] are struggling to grasp, it is something they don’t appreciate because they have not been under that sort of pressure every week,” he explained.
“When you put many guys who have played many minutes of Test rugby together, that’s the kind of pressure you have to cope with.
“You have (Angus) Scott-Young coming in as a replacement and he is a Test player. Are they [Bulls players] struggling to grasp it? I think so and how do we fix it? There is only one way and that is to keep on putting them into the deep end.
“There is no other way, you can’t simulate it at training because when you make a mistake they pounce.”
The former Springboks coach identified wasted opportunities from his players during the early stages against Northampton as a key factor in their eventual downfall.
“I have just said to them now, you can’t just talk and talk. Every week we say let’s not give penalties away, let’s not give them entries into our 22, let’s be understanding about how we want to play the game and all that sort of stuff,” added the 61-year-old.
‘These are some of the best club rugby players in the world’
“I am frustrated because we had all the chances in the beginning of the match and I think what people, even our players, must understand is that in this competition these are some of the best club rugby players in the world.
“When you don’t take your chances or you are not on top of your game, they will find a way to beat you. I am not taking anything way from Northampton, they were semi-finalists last year and they have taken his competition seriously.
“They brought their big guns here as well and we were not good enough and that is as simple as that. There is no use trying to find excuses, we had opportunities and we didn’t take them.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/this-is-test-rugby-in-club-or-provincial-jerseys-jake-white-left-frustrated-after-bulls-fail-assignment
