Johan Ackermann reveals biggest stumbling block which made Bulls ‘force things’ in Bristol defeat
Bulls captain Ruan Nortje in action against Bristol Bears and the Pretoria-based outfit's head coach Johan Ackermann (inset).
Bulls boss Johan Ackermann identified his side’s slow start as the biggest stumbling block in Saturday’s 61-49 Investec Champions Cup loss to Bristol Bears in Pretoria.
As the scoreline suggests, this was a free-flowing affair with plenty of end-to-end action throughout and the visitors eventually outscored the Bulls by nine tries to six.
Bristol made a terrific start as they raced into a 21-0 lead inside the first 10 minutes and were up 47-28 at half-time at Loftus Versfeld.
The result means the Bears have qualified for the Champions Cup‘s round-of-16 as they now occupy second position in Pool Four, while the Bulls are firmly rooted at the bottom of the group.
Seventh loss in a row for the Bulls
It also means that the Pretoria-based outfit have now lost seven successive matches in all competitions.
Saturday’s loss to Bristol left Ackermann with more questions than answers, although he pinpointed his side’s slow start as the root cause of their problems in that encounter.
“We started badly and that set the tone,” he said. “Then we had to play catch-up for 80 minutes, and suddenly the good work you did during the game doesn’t look so good because the result doesn’t reflect it.
“This hurts more than a normal loss. It’s not a case where we can fault the commitment of the players. We can’t say it is an attitude problem. The guys knew how important this game was.
“Because if I look at the week’s preparation and how well the players trained, the intensity was good. We were positive after last week’s performance, even though it was a loss.
“I wish I could give the exact answer of why things went wrong.”
The Bulls were their own worst enemies against Bristol as they made a plethora of unforced errors, with the likes of Springboks backline duo Handre Pollard and Willie le Roux the chief culprits.
Despite those mistakes, Ackermann defended his players, although he feels their poor start forced their hand.
‘When you’re chasing the scoreboard, you force things’
“No player goes out to make mistakes and to play badly or miss tackles,” he added. “But when you’re chasing the scoreboard, you start to force things.
“We play a lot of rugby against ourselves with the mistakes we make and we give away possession.
“You start to force offloads, trying things you wouldn’t normally do, even senior players feel the pressure.
“That’s when you play a bit out of character. However, I’m not giving up on the players. It is up to us to fix things, no one else is coming.
“We can only control what we can. And that is how we conduct ourselves under the pressure and adversity.”
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