JOHANNESBURG – Former Springboks and Bulls defence guru John McFarland knows what it takes to win Super Rugby.
After all, McFarland was at the heart of the Bulls’ watertight defence that saw them being crowned Super Rugby champions three times and was also involved with the Springboks World Cup semi-final exit in England two years ago.
Even though the Bulls lost their opening game of Super Rugby to the Stormers last weekend, McFarland believes there were enough glimpses of the team’s ability to go far in the competition in their second half performance where the men in blue were praised for their character.
McFarland was as complimentary of the break neck intensity with which the Stormers played with and says the Bulls would do well in replicating the Cape side’s pace ahead of their encounter against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
While the Stormers raced to a 24-0 half-time lead against the Bulls, it was the Bulls fighting spirit that saw them outscore their opposition that stood out for McFarland.
“You’ve got to recognize that the Stormers played so well and the first 24 minutes any team would have crumbled under that pressure. What was encouraging for me which shows the spirit of the Bulls was the way they fought and kept themselves in the game and actually outscored the Stormers in the second half. So there were positives to come out from it and the Bulls need to play with the same kind of intensity that the Stormers came at them this week in Bloemfontein,” said McFarland who is on holiday from his coaching duties in Japan.
The Cheetahs may have lost their opening game of the season against the Lions in the dying moments of the game but they showed in previous seasons and in last year’s Currie Cup triumph that they can play with the same speed with which the Stormers displayed last Saturday.
McFarland has thrown down the gauntlet to the Bulls senior players like Trevor Nyakane, Jacques Potgieter, Rudy Paige, Jan Serfontein and Jesse Kriel and their ability to take control of proceedings on the field in not only bringing about calmness but in giving direction to the team to slowing down the game and enforcing their game on the opposition.
“Your senior players need to make sure they make the junior players calm and obviously you need to slow the ball down and get set. The problem is that the Stormers kept the ball alive so well so they couldn’t get set and that led to the problems they had in the first half,” McFarland said.
Unlike last year where it was the Lions who led South Africa’s sole charge in the competition, McFarland has been impressed with what he saw from the Stormers, Bulls and Lions in the first weekend of the competition and firmly believes that the all teams are showing signs of playing more with ball in hand and exploiting the new tackle laws that seek to prevent high and dangerous tackles.
“Certainly very impressive was the Stormers and Bulls game. It was very intense and I think the players are in great shape this year. You can see because of the new tackle law there is a real intent to attack and play with the ball in hand. There is a lot more offloads than you would normally see and there was very little kicks in that Stormers Bulls game which is really encouraging.”
Furthermore McFarland cited better conditioning of the players which should place them in a better position to compete against New Zealand sides who have enjoyed dominance in the competition in recent seasons.
“We had a team in the final last year. I’ve been visiting the franchises catching up with friends and coaches. I see the players are in really good shape and I’ve never seen some of them looking so thin. That will be a real positive in terms of conditioning and being able to match the intensity of the New Zealand sides,” said McFarland.