Springboks great: Bulls ‘defence optional’ as pressure builds on Johan Ackermann, performances are ‘not good enough’
Bulls back Willie Le Roux (INPHO/Willem Loock/EPCR Rugby) and an inset of head coach Johan Ackermann (INPHO/Tom O'Hanlon/EPCR Rugby)
Steven Kitshoff says that Johan Ackermann is under pressure after the Bulls fell to their seventh straight defeat over the weekend in the Investec Champions Cup.
Ackermann stuck by his word and selected his best possible team available, which resulted in 10 Springboks in the starting XV, but the ploy did not pay dividends as they were soundly beaten by Bristol Bears.
The PREM Rugby club ran in nine tries to the Bulls‘ seven, claiming an emphatic 49-61 Champions Cup victory after being 47-28 up at half-time.
The Pretoria-based outfit have struggled for results this campaign and look a shadow of the team that reached last season’s United Rugby Championship Grand Final under the guidance of ex-Springboks boss Jake White.
White parted ways with the Bulls ahead of the 2025/26 season, with reports suggesting that he had a falling out with the senior players in the squad.
Defence was optional
The club reacted to the poor run of results at the end of last year by releasing assistant coaches Andries Bekker and Chris Rossouw, with Neil de Bruin brought in to run the attack, and Ackermann overseeing the forwards.
SA Rugby also made Springboks assistant coaches available to the Bulls to lend their expertise but that hasn’t led to improved results, yet.
Speaking on the GameTime podcast, Kitshoff provided his review of the weekend’s action and the performances of the South African teams.
“Watching the game, it felt like defence was optional,” the double Rugby World Cup winner said.
“The Bulls going down 47-28 in the first half, and the final score was 61-49. A game like that puts so much pressure on new coach Johan Ackermann, with it being their seventh loss across all tournaments in a row.
“It puts so much pressure on him, his team, his leadership and the management.
“Hopefully, they get a good result this weekend, but it’s a tough road ahead for Johan and his men.
“There were some glimpses of hope, probably in the last 10 to 15 minutes, where we saw guys like Handre Pollard really start pulling the triggers. Willie actually showed some energy, but overall, it was just not a good enough performance.”
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Poor start
Speaking after the game, head coach Ackermann pointed to his charges’ poor start as the main reason for the defeat.
“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.”
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