Obvious disappointment in Bulls camp, but still early days of SuperRugby Unlocked, says Manjezi
While there is obvious disappointment in the Bulls camp over their loss to the Cheetahs last weekend, lock Sintu Manjezi says they are still in the early stages of the Super Rugby Unlocked competition and they are confident that if they focus on the type of rugby they are capable of producing, then they can see off the challenge of the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Bulls have the pleasing memory of thumping the Sharks 49-28, with seven tries, in their last meeting, on SuperFan Saturday at the end of last month, and Manjezi said that match provides the template of how they want to play.
“Last weekend didn’t go our way which was obviously disappointing, but we missed a few opportunities in the 22 and that’s something we’ll look to rectify. We just need to keep our focus, we’re only two games into the competition and we need to stick to our basics and stay within the system which protects us. We need to stick to what we do well.
“The type of rugby we want to play is to move the ball, but we’ve also shown that we can play it tight and keep the ball moving up in the forwards. The positive from SuperFan Saturday was that we were able to play off the Sharks’ mistakes and able to convert those opportunities. But the Sharks will also try to play off turnovers and they will put us under pressure with kicks,” Manjezi said.
The 25-year-old powerhouse said that while coach Jake White has encouraged his players to play with freedom, he still expects his trusty lieutenants up front to do the groundwork, as the Bulls pack certainly did against the Sharks in their previous clash.
“Coach Jake allows us to express ourselves, we’re not stuck in a box and not allowed to play the rugby we want to. But to play the rugby we want to, we need to sap the opposition forwards, get front-foot ball and play in the right areas. We want to win those set-pieces, and we’ve been good up front, we didn’t concede any maul tries against the Cheetahs.
“We also won 14 out of 17 lineouts and we contested well, which gave us good results. The forwards have got to show up again on Saturday to make the difference because the Sharks have a decent set-piece. We will try to put them under pressure, and then we can move the ball, but we know us forwards have to really pitch up to do that,” Manjezi said.