When should a team take the three points or kick to the corner from a penalty?

That was one of the major challenges that the Bulls had to contend with in last week’s 30-21 Champions Cup defeat to Northampton Saints, and one that they will grapple with once more in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship showdown with the Sharks in Durban (6pm start).

Captain Elrigh Louw admitted yesterday that he was in two minds at times about whether to go for touch or not at Loftus Versfeld last week, and felt that it was their execution at those lineouts and mauls rather than the decision itself that was problematic.

“It’s a feeling you get on the field! It felt for us as leaders that in that moment, we had the edge on them, we had the momentum,” the Springbok loose forward said.

“I mean... Two or three tries were cancelled, and a few metres from the line, there was a knock-on. So, if we had scored all the times we had gone to the touchline, then it was a different situation.

“I also wondered a few times whether we shouldn’t be going to poles, but that is how you learn. I still don’t think that it was the wrong decision from us as a group of leaders.

“We must just execute better when we get those opportunities. I think we just have to show a bit more composure as a team. We built unbelievable momentum and we were over them.

“We had a lot of ball possession, and we just could not capitalise on that. For me, it’s almost half as if we must just go through one more phase.

“I feel sometimes we are a bit over-eager, and then we want to pull the trigger too early. We must just be more patient when we have those opportunities.

“We have to take games like last week against Saints as learning blocks. You only learn if you improve, and I think we’ll see this weekend if we really took something out of last weekend’s match.

“I just don’t think we were switched on for the full 80 minutes.

“It’s one or two minutes in a match that determines the outcome, and a lot of it is based on a split-second decision at ruck-time or at a maul, that gives them another penalty and moves us another 20 or 30 metres towards our own goal-line.

“That’s quite a thing we can improve on, our penalty count as well.”

But life goes on, and now the Bulls will have to contend with a Springbok-laden Sharks side at Kings Park, with many of their stars such as Siya Kolisi having sat out of last week’s 56-17 Champions Cup hammering at Leicester.

Jake White’s team are still in a strong third position on the URC log with five wins and 24 points from six matches, and will hope to end the year off on a high note after two consecutive Champions Cup losses.

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“It was a bitter pill to swallow for us. We had a whole lot of opportunities in that match that we didn’t take,” Louw said.

“We made many, many mistakes that placed us under pressure. But we learnt a lesson from last weekend’s game, and the nice thing about rugby is the fact that you can learn from your mistakes and make it right the following week.

“So, I don’t think we are dwelling too much now on last weekend’s game, and we are looking forward to the Sharks match.

“They are very skilful and talented players, from one to 15, and they love it when the game gets a bit loose.

“We expect them to want some turnovers. We can expect a lot of contestable kicks off nine, and then their set-piece is very dominant with the players they have.

“We need to, for ourselves, put up a good performance this weekend.” | Independent Media Sport

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Touch or poles? That is the question facing Elrigh Louw’s Bulls against Sharks