Ken Borland

The Bulls have overcome all manner of pressure and played some fine rugby, becoming a real pain in the neck for their South African rivals, but if there is one performance where fingers could be pointed at them for not pitching, it was the Rainbow Cup final against Benetton Treviso in June. But fullback David Kriel said on Tuesday that the squad has taken those lessons from Italy on board.

They will need to have learnt from the harsh lesson they were dished out that day because, in their first trip overseas since Super Rugby in March 2020 they were humbled 35-8 by Treviso, who were considered no-hopers before the game. And now on Saturday they face the might of Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin in their first ever United Rugby Championship match.

“It’s another opportunity for us to build on what we learnt from the Benetton Treviso game, which was not our best performance. But we took it as a stepping stone and an opportunity for growth. It was a challenging experience but good for the squad. This time around we want to be more clinical and play like the championship side we are.

“It’s comforting that this time we are in Europe for a while, we can get used to the conditions and the lifestyle, and it will certainly benefit the squad being together for a whole month. Personally, it allows me to be like a sponge and soak up the lessons while I’m still young. We are the Currie Cup champions, we must own it and we know that Leinster will want to show they are better than us,” Kriel said.

Given their pedigree, with five European titles and being one of only four teams to ever defend the European Cup, no-one is ever going to err by considering Leinster the underdogs when they take on a Bulls side that has swept all aside at home but is yet to prove themselves overseas.

And the 22-year-old Kriel is certainly aware of how imperious Leinster have been in dominating the Pro14 that preceded the URC.

“Growing up I would always watch a quality side like Leinster. Someone like Johnny Sexton is still playing, but previously those great centres Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy played for Leinster too. So I’m a bit nervous about playing against them, but also very excited for the opportunity.

“The Currie Cup prepared us for lots of high-ball catching and the URC sides love that too, so as outside backs we’ve been working hard to make sure we don’t make mistakes there. Otherwise, as a fullback you’re not necessarily in the game for the whole 80 minutes, so I just try to be everywhere looking for work, wherever I can be used,” Kriel said.

While the superb pace trio of Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi have quite rightly been lauded for the damages they inflicted on the West Indies batting as the Proteas swept to an innings victory in the first Test at St Lucia, South Africa captain Dean Elgar also pointed to the efforts of the batsmen as being worthy of praise.

Nortje, the enforcer bowling with nasty venom, enjoyed match figures of seven for 81, while Ngidi took five for 19 in the first innings and Rabada then finished off the home side with five for 34 in their second knock.

But on a spicy pitch on which the seam bowlers threatened throughout, the embattled Proteas batsmen did very well to post 322 in their only innings. Quinton de Kock’s magnificent 141 not out, with 12 fours and seven sixes, rightfully stole the limelight and earned him the man of the match award, but Aiden Markram (60) and Rassie van der Dussen (46) made sure he had something of a platform to build on.

Wiaan Mulder and Nortje then shared important partnerships with De Kock to bat the West Indies out of the game with a first-innings lead of 225. Even debutant Keegan Petersen may have only scored 19, but he came to the crease in the first over and batted positively for 40 minutes to keep the home side from making more early breakthroughs.

“The bowlers were assisted in quite a big way by the pitch, conditions were very favourable for seam bowling, and our batsmen managed to score more than 300 so credit must go to them as well. Quinny was just brilliant, showing what a world-class cricketer he is, and Aiden and Rassie applied themselves well too,” Elgar said.

But it was the bowlers who stole the show as they did not get carried away by the helpful conditions or ever stray from the simple disciplines the new full-time skipper wanted – like keeping to the channel just outside off-stump and forcing the batsmen to decide whether to play or leave a ball that cold move either way, which the pacemen did superbly.

“Lungi, Anrich and KG were brilliant with the ball and Kesha Maharaj chipped in really nicely on the third day. It was a proper, professional approach and the team were clinical and ruthless. It was a bit more of the old-school South African style, which I wanted. I know it’s in us, we just need to get it out. It was a collective effort and I know the effort it took, so we won’t take this win for granted.

“It’s nice when everything comes together, I asked for individuals to get accolades and we had a century and two five-fors. Our bowling attack put down their stamp of authority, which we’ve been struggling to do. The basics of bowling applied on that pitch, we had to execute our skills and utilise the facilities. We have a great balance in our attack at the moment,” Elgar said.