Ken Borland

For the first couple of years of Jake White’s tenure at Loftus Versfeld, the Bulls were always first or second on the log as they dominated their domestic rivals, but the United Rugby Championship has posed a much sterner challenge for them, and their director of rugby is delighted with the character they have shown in climbing from the basement of the log into sixth place now, with a quarterfinal spot confirmed.

Their hard-fought 29-17 bonus point victory over Glasgow Warriors in Pretoria at the weekend means the Bulls, with 53 points, now cannot be bumped out of the top eight by either Scarlets (44pts) or Ospreys, who have two games in hand but only have 39 points.

“In all our other tournaments we were generally first or second on the log from the start, but we’ve now had to play catch-up and get bonus points and I’m obviously very happy that we’ve shown lots of character,” White said.

“We were second-last with just 14 points after six rounds, so it’s first prize really to be in the playoffs. We’re not worried where we play them, we’re just happy to get in.

“We didn’t play well overall, but we played really well at times. We didn’t really play with a lot of rhythm or tempo because it was a game of stop/start and it looked like the waterboys were on all the time.

“That broke our momentum and the tempo looked terrible. There was also a bit of naivety in terms of game-management, we let the opposition back in the game again,” White said.

Glasgow coach Danny Wilson spoke about how having massive lumps of beefy Bulls flesh constantly battering them had “taught us a lesson about another level of physicality” and White said the home side only really picked up momentum when they started “wrestling” the visitors.

“Not many teams run a side like Glasgow to pieces so today’s challenge was to wrestle them. It suited us to play that way and it was a great learning experience for the team,” White said.

“Against a side that does not give you much space, time or opportunity, that’s what was needed in this game. There were certain things we did poorly in terms of execution, but we found a way to win.

“We wrestled them when we had to, but having wrestled and wrestled them, we then suddenly went to a different style and that can come back and bite you,” White said.

The sum of their situation though is that it is almost impossible for the Bulls to finish any higher than third, even if they beat Ospreys with a bonus point on May 20 in Swansea.

Munster are currently second on 56 points and will be underdogs when they visit defending champions Leinster in the final round, but the Sharks (56pts) visit Ulster (55pts), with the Bulls needing a draw in that match and for the Scarlets to beat the Stormers (56pts).

The Stormers showed last weekend just how effective a powerful scrum is against the Glasgow Warriors, but Bulls coach Jake White also wants to use the lineout to attack the Scottish playoff contenders in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The Glasgow scrum struggled to take the heat put on them by Frans Malherbe and Steven Kitshoff in Cape Town, but White said on Thursday that the Bulls don’t have the luxury of Springbok props, so they will be looking to the lineout to also put the Warriors under pressure.

The visitors’ lineout is, however, led by the lighthouse-like figure of veteran lock Richie Gray, who has played 67 Tests for Scotland.

“We don’t have the luxury of a great scrum with incumbent Test props, but we need to find a way to use it as an attacking platform, be clever with it and not just use it to bail us out and get a penalty,” White said.

“It’s a significant difference between how rugby is played locally and overseas, where the scrum is used as an attacking platform, compared to being used here as a way to get a penalty and territory.

“But the lineout can also be used as a different form of attack, like the Canterbury Crusaders or Leicester Tigers do – you can maul, go off the top, come round the front or the back, or use overthrows.

“It’s an area of the game that has changed a lot because the referees are strict on the backs not coming in too soon. So you can have changes of tempo there, you can play quickly if you want,” White said.

While the selection of a counter-attacker like Canan Moodie to replace the injured Kurt-Lee Arendse at fullback shows that the Bulls will still want to give the ball plenty of air, especially if Glasgow – who like to kick for territory – are inaccurate with the boot, White said he had chosen Morne Steyn as his starting flyhalf for a specific reason he did not want to divulge.

Perhaps Steyn’s ability to mail monster kicks deep into opposition territory and then putting the Warriors lineout under pressure is the reason.

And then when the visitors are ailing from altitude in the second half, impact players like Chris Smith, Cyle Brink and Harold Vorster can come off the bench and play some exciting rugby.

Bulls team:Canan Moodie, James Verity-Amm, Lionel Mapoe, Cornal Hendricks, Madosh Tambwe, Morne Steyn, Zak Burger; Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee (CAPT), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. IMPACT-Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Dylan Smith, Janko Swanepoel, Cyle Brink, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Harold Vorster.

The Central Gauteng Lions may have just won the One-Day Cup, but the signing of explosive batsmen Cameron Delport and Evan Jones, both of whom are also part-time seamers, loans an even more formidable look to their white-ball squads for 2022/23.

Despite their incredible, Reeza Hendricks inspired victory in the One-Day Cup final against the Northerns Titans, the Lions have taken a pragmatic view in their recruiting for next season. Losing most of their side to national call-ups, they struggled in the CSA T20 Challenge, finishing second-last, and they were certainly the underdogs in the 50-over final.

Although their four-day campaign ended in disappointment, finishing third after holding top spot for most of the competition, the fact that there are 30 promotion/relegation points on offer for limited-overs cricket and just 15 for the first-class game, has convinced the Lions to concentrate on the white-ball game.

They were in danger of being dragged into next season’s relegation battle before winning the One-Day Cup, but after 2021/22 they are now second, 12 points behind the Titans.

The 32-year-old Delport has been signed from the KZN Inland Tuskers and is a global T20 nomad who has scored more runs in the format than any other batsman who has not played for their country. The left-handed opener scores at a strike-rate of 139 in T20s and 105 in 50-over cricket.

The 25-year-old, Pretoria-born Jones averages 71 in first-class cricket and has a strike-rate of 95 in one-dayers and 153 in T20s. A dominant presence at the crease, he led the Northern Cape charge to the top of the Division II standings with his destructive batting.

“There were a couple of spots open and certain players we wanted to attract,” CGL chief executive Jono Leaf-Wright told The Citizen. “Evan and Cameron are both really strong white-ball batsmen.

“Our T20 campaign was not great and we decided to push the reset button and make strategic signings.

“Winning the One-Day Cup was a relief because we were in the middle of the promotion/relegation pool after the bitter pill of our four-day finish and the T20 Challenge. Now we are second.

“Seven players left us to play for South Africa, that’s our role, to keep providing players for the national team, but to lose them meant we were victims of our own success. We have to make sure the depth of the talent pool is there,” Leaf-Wright said.

Bjorn Fortuin, who played a crucial role in getting the Lions across the finish line in the One-Day Cup final, has been rewarded with a two-year contract, joining Sisanda Magala, Ryan Rickelton, Dominic Hendricks and Lutho Sipamla in that category.

Duanne Olivier, Mitchell van Buuren and Codi Yusuf have signed new contracts with the Lions, while wicketkeeper/batsman Ruan Haasbroek and spinner Tshepo Ntuli have been released.

Former SA U19 captain Wandile Makwetu has decided to cross the Vaal River and join Central Gauteng from the Free State Knights, but he has not been contracted.

Connacht may be the lowest-ranked of the Irish sides, in 10^th place in the United Rugby Championship, but Sharks captain Thomas du Toit is wary of them ahead of their match on Saturday at Kings Park because he views them as a threatening package that combines strong forwards with an attack that can do the unexpected.

The Sharks currently have 51 log points, the same as Munster and Ulster, one point behind the second-placed Stormers and 10 adrift of Leinster.

Connacht’s own playoff aspirations may be gone as they are 12 points off the pace with only two matches to play, but they showed last weekend in beating the Lions at altitude at Ellis Park that they have great determination, they never stop being competitive and they displayed composure under pressure. Being only the second northern hemisphere team to win in Johannesburg is a decent honour to have on their URC CV.

“The other Irish teams – Munster, Ulster and Leinster – all employ similar tactics to each other in attack and defence and they are more structured than Connacht,” Du Toit said on Tuesday.

“But Connacht are one of the most physical sides in the competition, and yet they also play with more freedom. But at the same time they are very well prepared and trained.

“We’re trying to stay in our structure a bit more and the top eight is not out aim, ensuring a home quarterfinal is our aim. That’s a massive focus for us and every game now is like a final.

“You cannot underestimate the value of being at home in the playoffs, and now that we’ve sussed out the competition, we are doing what South African teams do best,” Du Toit said.

On a personal level, the Springbok prop is unfazed about taking over the captaincy with Lukhanyo Am in Japan and Siya Kolisi left to concentrate on his own game.

“My title just changed – I used to just be tighthead prop but now it’s with a little ‘c’ next to it. I talk a lot more now in our meetings, but it hasn’t changed a lot on the field.

“A team like this has so many talented, young but experienced leaders. We enjoy playing a lot of rugby and trying different things,” Du Toit said.