Cape Town – Jake White felt aggrieved about the fact that the Stormers weren’t penalised more heavily for tackling star fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse around the neck a few times, but the Bulls were their own worst enemies in Friday night’s 37-27 United Rugby Championship loss.
The Pretoria side conceded two yellow cards in the opening 25 minutes, and lacked the required intensity upfront against a spirited Stormers side in front of 30 000 passionate spectators at Cape Town Stadium.
While the Bulls front row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith won a number of penalties against the much-vaunted Stormers’ Springbok combo of Steven Kitshoff, Joseph Dweba and Frans Malherbe, the Capetonians won the collisions and were able to find space at close quarters and at out wide.
The Bulls collapsed a powerful Stormers maul to concede a penalty try, while their defence was found wanting as the hosts carved them up in an enthralling five-minute period in the second half that led to tries to Dweba, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Leolin Zas.
“(Disappointing to lose by 10 points after 13-13 halftime score), especially as we played 20 minutes with 14 guys. I think we just showed moments of inexperience. I suppose that’s the only disappointing thing I can think about… Even that tap penalty on the tryline (by scrumhalf Zak Burger, whose loopy pass was knocked-on by Nizaam Carr) – we’ve got probably five or six plays that we run, that we plan and practice,” White said.
“But we just tap and run the ball and knock it on. So, that area of our game… And also, I was making a substitution there and we got the timings wrong – that’s why there was one less defender on the far side, when they ran the ball out of their (22) from the kickoff.
“So, again, inexperience from the point of view that the guy who was supposed to stand there was on his way off – to swap with Nizaam – and there was miscommunication about someone’s got to be on the other side there.
“So, it was one of those games that maybe four minutes (in which it was decided). It’s quite interesting that we scored three tries to four, got three scrum penalties, which is a massive step from where we were two years ago.
“But we looked a little bit inexperienced with just some of the… I don’t want to say decisions, but some of the actions that we had. If you look at the pack of forwards – even though they had some guys out – every player in the Stormers pack was older than the Bulls. Kitsie is older, Dweba is older, Malherbe, both locks, Deon’s older than Marco, Elrigh is younger than Hacjivah… And Cyle is (younger than Willie Engelbrecht).
“We still need to build a team to get to where we want to. That’s why we are signing long-term deals with Ruan Nortje and Elrigh – there’s a plan for this group of players to grow together.”
White thought that the Bulls had some inroads on the Stormers with ball-in-hand, and suggested that the Cape outfit were fortunate not to receive yellow cards from referee AJ Jacobs for high tackles on Arendse.
“Kurt-Lee was three, four, five times through the holes, 12 (Harold Vorster) was through the gaps… We had lots of chances, and I think Kurt-Lee was tackled around the neck three times, which is actually interesting,” the former Springbok coach said.
“If you look at all the matches, we are number one in terms of scoring tries from turnovers in the competition. It is a media perception that you are giving… We were apparently the weakest scrum, but tonight, we got three penalties against one of the best front rows in the world.
“I am not happy with the result, but to get three penalties in the scrums, from where we were two or three years ago, is unbelievable for me. And the fact that we give the ball to guys like Canan and Kurt-Lee is why we played like we did tonight. They will get better – they are still young… Canan is 20 years old.
“No, I should be all right (as there were no major Bulls injuries). Just check on Kurt-Lee… He got tackled around the neck three times, so I am going to check if he’s okay.”
Now the Bulls, who are fourth on the URC log with 34 points from 10 matches, face another away game against the Sharks in Durban next Saturday, New Year’s Eve (4.45pm kickoff).
Points-Scorers
Stormers 37 – Tries: Penalty Try, Joseph Dweba, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Leolin Zas. Conversions: Manie Libbok (3). Penalties: Libbok (3).
Bulls 27 – Tries: Nizaam Carr, Marco van Staden, Bismarck du Plessis. Conversions: Johan Goosen (2), Chris Smith (1). Penalties: Goosen (2).
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