— Cape Town The Bulls suffered a horrific performance in their 35-21 United Rugby Championship (URC) loss to the Glasgow Warriors the night before.
Even though there was a 90 percent possibility of rain in the Scottish port city on the River Clyde, the Pretoria team would have awakened on Sunday to prepare for their upcoming match against Munster in Limerick.
On Saturday night at Scotstoun Stadium, they displayed an unexpectedly sloppy performance, with missed tackles, knock-ons, the incorrect options on attack, a devastating ball-in-hand strategy from Glasgow, and questionable officiating from Andrew Brace.
However, coach Jake White will not be waiting to kick them while they are down after their first loss of the season.
“Sometimes you have a rough day at work. “In the last two of games, we’ve gotten out to strong starts and scored some points,” said White.
“Tonight, we had to play catch-up, which was somewhat challenging. I believe the speed of the 4G field and Glasgow’s accuracy, as well as their aggressiveness at times, caught us off guard, and we were forced to play catch-up. All praise due to them
“I merely expressed my disappointment to the players, and they are aware of my disappointment. However, they are also disappointed. I am not a coach that suddenly yells, screams, demeans, and attempts to break them down.
“We have a lengthy tour and season, and a single poor performance does not preclude you from winning the competition. At this time last year, we had won one game.
Therefore, the margins are slim. On Monday morning, we will return to the field for training. We’re going to do some research on Munster, and it’s not going to get any simpler given that they’ve lost three of their last four matches.
Additionally, they have an impressive domestic record and a wealth of international expertise.
“I will refrain from yelling and screaming. We will figure it out as a team, with the coaches and players. I cannot speed up age and experience. Considering that Ludwig is 21, Errigh Louw is 22, and Jan-Hendrik Wessels is 21, I have the same age. Unfortunate as it may be, this is all you have to deal with.
“And I regret to add that we cannot fast-forward that. But I am confident that if we invest some time and learn from these performances – and if they get how difficult this competition is – they will improve as players. And that is all I can hope for: that they gain some knowledge from these performances.”
The Bulls were eliminated from contention before halftime when Glasgow’s outstanding scrumhalf George Horne secured the bonus point with his fourth try.
While the visitors displayed some fighting spirit by scoring two tries and ‘winning’ the second half 14-7, the lack of physicality from the forwards, a general lazy effort in defence, and poor accuracy in attack will make the post-match video session uncomfortable.
However, White did not blame travel for the loss and praised a lively Glasgow team that scored five tries in chilly and rainy circumstances.
“Listen, I’m not going to make excuses and blame the travel… The Lions traveled from England to Wales in 27 hours and won three of their four games, proving that it is possible.
“We were simply not good enough, it’s that simple. We weren’t good enough. Tonight, we appeared to be little boys; we missed some tackles and gave them a terrific start.
“They performed exceptionally well to start the game. They maintained possession of the ball for lengthy stretches, putting us under strain. They rapidly gained momentum and scored a try, making the situation considerably more difficult.
“They have a home crowd there… Everything that I believe they could have gotten in their favor worked out for them, while we struggled.
“However, the fact that we did not sustain any injuries and scored 14 points in the second half while being so far down is a positive.
“Had it not been for one or two options, we may have been able to earn two bonus points because we were close to scoring a fourth try, which would have brought the score to within seven points. Therefore, those are the margins, but we did not understand it. Now we must up on Monday morning and prepare for Munster.”
Scorers
Matt Fagerson, Sebastian Cancelliere, Scott Cummings, George Horne, and Josh McKay scored tries for Glasgow. Horne made conversions (5).
Bulls 21 – Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Bismarck du Plessis, Janko Swanepoel. Chris Smith (2) and Morné Steyn (1) were successful in their conversion attempts (1).