United Rugby Championship: Jake White says ‘Bulls are not in a crisis’ despite poor form

David Skippers
Jake White Bulls director of rugby v Sharks URC 2021 - PA.jpg

Although Bulls director of rugby Jake White admits that his team are going through a slump, he does not feel they are in the midst of a crisis and believes they can still compete for trophies this season.

The Pretoria-based outfit have won just two of their last 10 matches across all tournaments and suffered a humiliating 63-15 defeat at home in their Currie Cup opener against the Pumas last week.

Despite his team’s poor form, White is not panicking and said the challenge of being competitive in three tournaments – the United Rugby Championship, Champions Cup and Currie Cup – has been tough but he believes his players will be stronger from the experience.

“We’re in a situation we’ve never been in before, we’ve got young players who have never been in this circumstance before, and it’s a challenge we’ve got to get through,” he told the Citizen.

“But how can you be in a crisis when you’re still in the top eight of the URC (United Rugby Championship) and the top 16 of the Champions Cup and you’ve lost only one Currie Cup game? I don’t believe that’s a hole.

Backs Bulls to bounce back

“I really, genuinely believe these are situations you’ve got to go through as a group of coaches and players, and I know we will get through this.

“I know the squad we have will learn from this and there’s still a long way to go (this season). Nobody has won any trophies at this point in time.”

The former Springbok head coach said he has been in similar situations before during his coaching career and is backing the Bulls to show improvement during the latter part of the season.

“I think we’re always going to be under the pump but we had to try certain things,” he said.

“Sometimes when you rearrange your squad you lose cohesion, but you end up having players who believe they can play.”

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