Johan Grobbelaar wore a quiet smile when asked by Independent Media about whether the Bulls forwards should just rather keep the ball upfront instead of feeding the backline.
The big men, after all, were utterly dominating the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld last week, but somehow, the Pretoria side lost 29-19.
The Durban battled to handle the juggernaut Bulls pack to such an extent that they conceded three yellow cards in close proximity, which resulted in them going down to 12 men.
Yet the Bulls didn’t only lose, but weren’t able to even secure a losing bonus point on their home ground.
Jake White’s team appear to be caught in between rolling up their sleeves and drilling the opposition in the scrums and lineouts, and utilising a backline missing key figures such as Johan Goosen and Kurt-Lee Arendse.
Springbok fullback Willie le Roux has blown hot and cold as a flyhalf replacement for the injured Goosen, while no one has been able to fulfil the devastating running of Arendse – who is on a sabbatical in Japan.
It is not going to be as easy for the Bulls to blow away the Lions forwards in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld (2pm start) either.
Should the Bulls rather keep scrumming, mauling and using a pick-and-go strategy, especially when they get multiple penalties, than to feed the backs – who haven’t fired in recent weeks – or spreading the ball wide, or opting for the posts, only to see a goal-kick being missed?
“It’s definitely a strong point for us, and we will keep working on dominating in the scrums and mauls. It didn’t go well (on attack), but I’m sure the backs will go well this weekend,” Grobbelaar said.
“We try to get the feeling on the field, on what the best decision is. It’s always easier to look at it afterwards and say we could’ve done this or that differently.
“But that is where experience comes in. I thought we could’ve mixed it up a bit more at times, and go for something that’s working – like going for the maul again.
“I think it was just one of those games, where things didn’t want to work everywhere. Next time, we might lose a lineout or scrum. So, it is something we will be better at in the coming weeks.
“We had the opportunities and got into the right areas of the field. We just had to convert properly, and there were a few more tries that we didn’t get.
“Maybe look at some decisions we made, in terms of what we did where, and what time... Maybe when they had those yellow cards, there were some plays or moves that we could have done differently. But that’s how you learn.”
The Bulls have to learn quickly, as the Lions will be looking to avenge their 35-22 defeat to their Gauteng neighbours at Ellis Park in late January.
The Johannesburg outfit scored some thrilling tries in their 30-23 win over the Stormers last weekend, where the likes of Quan Horn, Henco van Wyk and Edwill van der Merwe were outstanding in broken play.
But they also have competitive forwards who do the hard yards, such as Ruan Venter, PJ Botha and Darrien Landsberg, and then the magic dust is sprinkled by the powerhouse prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye and classy No 8 Francke Horn.
“A few weeks ago in Johannesburg, it wasn’t easy in the scrums against them. They have big guys upfront who keep things together, so we will work hard to get good ball, stable ball, and hopefully win a few penalties as well,” Grobbelaar said.
“We need to play on that advantage and use the ball more to our advantage, and not just throw the ball away after a scrum penalty.
“We can convert much better after the positive metres that we make on the scrums.
“It is something we’ve spoken about (letting opponents come back into the game in the second half). We picked it up, and when we are on top of a team, we have to bury them.
“We haven’t done that well enough over the last couple of weeks, so it’s just a sense of keeping focus and not stopping and letting them back in at the end of the game.”