Setter of goals Jake says he is content with two successive wins
As head coach and one of the chief setters of goals for the Bulls, Jake White said he was content with their two successive United Rugby Championship wins over the Lions, although he felt they missed a golden opportunity for another bonus point in their 21-13 win at Loftus Versfeld at the weekend.
After a torrid first quarter, the Bulls look set to repeat their 34-10 triumph at Ellis Park a week ago when they stormed into a 21-6 lead after 49 minutes. But mistakes and a creaking scrum continued to plague their performance and they failed to add to their score as the gutsy Lions fought their way back into the game.
“I said to the players that if I had been offered nine points in two matches against the Lions in two weeks then I would have taken that based on where we were,” White said.
“We had to find a way to jump up the log. But we had enough chances to get the bonus point again, but we just couldn’t score again. Which was not ideal because we had set it up nicely.
“But the rain came when we had gone from 6-0 down to 21-6 up, which meant we went 21-0 in the middle block of the game, so you can’t be too upset, we were doing something right.
“I’m not satisfied that we didn’t get the bonus point, but we also can’t be arrogant. Two weeks ago we were under pressure and now we have nine more points against a Lions side that beat the Stormers in the Cape,” White pointed out.
The former Springbok coach also said that the Lions were adept at using the black arts to further frustrate his side.
“The Lions did a very good job of making the game as scrappy as possible, they were off their feet, not rolling away, hands in. And it worked because they got close to getting the result,” White said.
“But we are going to play games like this again, when the referee’s interpretations are different, and you’ve got to find ways to win when you’re under the pump.
“You’ve got to be good enough to adapt to whatever happens. And so many things happened. We just want consistency, but the same situations are being seen differently. There’s no common sense.
“But we have to be good enough to take the referee out of the equation,” White said.