Ken Borland

Ripped apart by Benetton Treviso on one of the most frustrating days in Bulls history, coach Jake White decried the “arrogance” of South African rugby that saw most pundits and fans expecting the local champions to just rock up in Europe and win the Rainbow Cup final.

The Bulls were meant to be triumphant forerunners of a wave of South African teams entering and dominating European competition via the new United Rugby Championship, but instead there will now be many questions overseas as to what our teams are going to add to the proud Celtic league.

Ponderous, one-dimensional and error-prone in comparison with an impressive Benetton side that produced some dazzling rugby, the Bulls were hammered 35-8.

“It would be a bit arrogant to think that we could just arrive in Italy and beat a club side and then fly home. Sometimes as a coach you just have to take it, tactically Benetton were very smart and there was no one area where we stamped our mark, we were a bit short in everything. But I’m a realist and that’s the first time many of this team felt pressure like that.

“Benetton have a lot of experienced Test players, they’ve played against England at Twickenham and France in Paris, and when you get them here at home, they can play. We looked inexperienced and we can blame that, the heat or the crowd, but at the end of the day we got it wrong. It was up to us to find a way, to do things differently,” White said.

While the Bulls have basically physically-dominated everyone back at home, it is clear that they play a more highbrow form of rugby in Europe and the South African teams are going to have to adapt very quickly. South Africa’s dominant team have just been handed a whipping by a team, impressive as they were on the day, no-one in Europe seriously thinks is better than big guns Leinster, Munster and Ulster, never mind the Champions Cup teams.

“It’s a completely different game up North and Benetton are a well-coached team who played really well. We did not enjoy it today being convincingly beaten, but we have got to find our feet. Hopefully this loss makes us so much better and I’m glad for the opportunity to grow as a team. Our youngsters have now seen that it’s a completely different game up here.

“To the other South African teams I would say ‘Don’t come here thinking it’s the same as what you’re used to’. It’s a totally different sort of defence and attack that you play against, homework and analysis is going to be so important. Back home we know the teams and players and we thought we have been clinical there, but we have never been punished for not kicking the ball out like we were here,” White admitted.

The Bulls often moan about the stereotype that portrays them as playing ponderous, one-dimensional kicking rugby but they did that and more in the Rainbow Cup final as they were deservedly hammered 35-8 by an underdog Benetton Treviso side that were full of vigour and invention.

The Bulls’ physicality and intensity were meant to be their trumpcards but Benetton, guided by an astute Kiwi coach in Kieran Crowley, merely speeded the game up in hot, humid conditions, getting the ball quickly out of the collisions areas, and with physical contests stripped of their importance, the visiting side were left looking like dumb brutes. Outscored by five tries to one, the Bulls embarrassingly lost by the sort of scoreline many expected to be their winning margin.

In many ways the Bulls were the architects of their own demise as they consistently failed to kick the ball into touch even if just to slow Benetton down; flyhalf Chris Smith perhaps had concussion judging by the shiner he took the field with because his head was not in the game as he constantly fed the dangerous Treviso back three.

Their lineouts were scrappy – tapped balls leading to two tries – and even their rolling maul failed to gain much traction. There were basic errors aplenty in one of the most frustrating Bulls days for many years.

The Bulls did score via a maul, and the quick thinking of wing Madosh Tambwe, to go into the last 10 minutes of the first half level at 8-8. But eighthman and captain Marcell Coetzee, who produced a strangely timid display for someone who wants to force their way back into the Springbok squad, then allowed a restart to go over his head and bounce into touch. Lock Walt Steenkamp tapped instead of catching the ball, scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl was caught between passing or dotting down, and hooker Corniel Els pounced for the try.

The former Bulls man was then the central figure as Benetton scored on the stroke of halftime to take their lead to 20-8. A clever kick behind by scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenhage saw the Bulls again struggle to clear their lines properly, another tapped lineout putting them under pressure, and Els then burst from a rolling maul but lost the ball over the line. A penalty try was awarded though because Stravino Jacobs, who was yellow-carded, had tackled him around the neck. It was a fair decision, because either Els or Duvenhage would certainly have scored.

Benetton flyhalf Paolo Garbisi produced a masterclass at flyhalf and he continued to boss the second half as the home side scored three more tries, continuing to create space out wide with ease.

The big question the Springboks will be asking ahead of their crunch series against the British and Irish Lions is whether this feeble display by the team that has been so dominant at home was just an awful day in the office or indicative of the poor standard of South African rugby?

Scorers

Benetton Treviso: Tries – Monty Ioane, Corniel Els, penalty try, Michele Lamaro, Edoardo Padovani. Conversion – Paolo Garbisi. Penalties – Garbisi (2).

Bulls: Try – Madosh Tambwe. Penalty – Chris Smith.

Benetton Treviso, the Bulls’ opponents in the Rainbow Cup final on Saturday, may have gone through the European leg of the competition unbeaten, but it is obvious they are a dark-horse club which is an unknown quantity for most South African rugby fans.

The vagaries of the European competition format and the resting of the big guns by clubs like Leinster, Munster and Ulster obviously helped Benetton, who failed to win a game in the preceding season of the Pro14 competition.

They are under the coaching of New Zealander Kieran Crowley, and it is his last game in charge before he becomes head coach of the Italian national side, replacing South African Franco Smith, who is moving to the position of head of high performance. The Benetton players will obviously be keen to send him off on a winning note.

Smith himself played for Benetton, and there is a history of South African involvement at the club. Fellow Springbok Marco Wentzel also pulled on the green jersey of Treviso, as did lock Corniel van Zyl. Michael Lynagh and John Kirwan are the two most famous former players of the 89-year-old club.

Former Stormers and SA A scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenhage is the current captain of Benetton, who also boast a pair of former Bulls locks in Irne Herbst and Eli Snyman, a former Bulls hooker in Corniel Els and Cradock-born loose forward Braam Steyn, who has played 44 times for Italy.

Second-choice flyhalf Tommaso Allan is the nephew of former Sharks and Springbok hooker John Allan.

In terms of style of play, Benetton are fond of scrummaging and using their physical defence to force turnovers, from which they are quick to counter-attack. They also have a reliable goalkicker in first-choice flyhalf Paolo Garbisi.

So they play a style of rugby that the Bulls themselves favour, although most people are expecting the visitors to be more proficient at it than their Italian hosts. But Benetton did push Montpellier, who went on to win the competition, all the way in their European Challenge Cup quarterfinal in April, losing by just six points.

Benetton will also have a crowd of 1000 spurring them on in the Stadio Monigo, which was chosen as the venue for the final before they qualified, but just happens to be their home stadium.

Steven Kitshoff has spent a long time sharing the Springbok loosehead duties with the great Tendai Mtawarira, but now that the ‘Beast’ has retired, the Stormers powerhouse will be the undisputed wearer of South Africa’s No.1 jersey in the series against the British and Irish Lions, but says being in the hot seat is not going to change his approach to Test rugby.

Mtawarira is the most-capped Springbok prop ever with 117 appearances stretching from 2008 to the triumphant 2019 World Cup final. Kitshoff made his Test debut in 2016 and has amassed 47 caps, but only 12 of those have been starts.

“Playing with and behind Beast was a massive honour and it was a privilege to learn from him. He is one of the great legends of the game. But now that he has retired, I’ll bring a similar approach as before to the game, I’ll focus on just doing my job the best I can for the team, and be willing to sacrifice for the team. My preparation will be the same.

“I’ll be putting in the same hard work every week leading up to the game. I’ll just be trying my best to represent my country and uphold the jersey as best I can, because I remember back in 2009, I was still in Grade XI and it was awesome to watch Beast scrum Phil Vickery on the last Lions tour here,” Kitshoff said.

The absence of Mtawarira robs the Springboks of one of their main leaders and has been exacerbated by the probable loss of Duane Vermeulen to an ankle injury. And while inspirational skipper Siya Kolisi will still very much have his hands on the tiller, Kitshoff says it will be all hands on deck in terms of the other leaders in the team stepping up.

“Duane plays a massive role in the side. I have no idea how long his rehab is going to take and I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery. He will definitely be missed, but we have a great group of players and leaders who are ready to step up and sacrifice anything for the jersey. There are still unbelievable leaders in the group and there are key guys running certain positions.

“That makes the game so much easier because it helps you control certain situations. As senior players now we must just step up and make sure we bring our side of the deal. Playing against the Lions is always one of the hardest series, up there with the World Cup, the toughest few weeks of your life. We’re working day-by-day to get our stuff in order and to have clarity in playing to our strengths,” Kitshoff said.