Cape Town - The Bulls have adopted an attacking mentality and scored some terrific tries in the United Rugby Championship (URC), but are still making sure that they get the traditional weapons right ahead of Saturday’s clash against the Ospreys at Loftus Versfeld (3pm kick-off).
The positive approach adopted by Jake White since taking charge in Pretoria has also resulted in a number of new Springboks such as speedsters Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie, as well as lock Ruan Nortje and loose forward Elrigh Louw.
But now they’ve had time to spend on fine-tuning their forward play as well during the November Test window, as the Ospreys will be determined to bring some shine to Welsh rugby following the national side’s defeat to Georgia last week.
Wales face Australia on Saturday, so the Ospreys won’t have their Test players available. But the Bulls are in the same boat as the Springboks are taking on England at Twickenham, although they do have the likes of Louw and Nortje back from the SA ‘A’ outfit.
“Watching these Test matches and the way the game is going at the moment … I don’t want to give away too much, but we’ve had to work on some elements in the set-piece,” Bulls forwards coach Russell Winter said this week.
“We want to keep evolving. We don’t want to become, every weekend, the side that’s monotonous in what we bring. We want to make sure that we bring some element of excitement to our game, but at the same time, keep that core of what we know we’re really good at. We’ve worked on our strengths and also evolve with the game.
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“We are more than happy with where we are with our mauls at the moment. But again, we want to try and exploit, and the make the best of how we can capitalise on how the maul is being adjudicated at the moment.
“It’s a massive part of the game, and if you don’t keep your wits about you and keep trying to evolve, and make sure you are picking up trends and how people stop it – and how people capitalise from a maul – then you will probably stagnate, and you won’t get the rewards that you are looking for at a maul.
“It’s something that I personally look at a lot, and there’s got to be some sort of benefit for your maul, because it takes so much out of the forwards in terms of their legs … you’ve got to be conditioned for the maul.
“We must make sure that every time you do attempt a maul, you get some sort of reward out of it – that’s a massive bonus for a team. And also when you stop a maul at source and a side doesn’t get the reward, it gives you a lot of energy.”
The Ospreys have won just one out of their seven matches, but have two draws – including a 16-16 stalemate against the defending champion Stormers in driving rain in Swansea.
So, there is little chance of the Bulls taking a victory for granted.
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“They did that to the Stormers, when their full-strength side wasn’t playing. They are well-coached, they come from a really proud club, and if you take them lightly, you can definitely get burnt very quickly,” Winter said.
“This is a side that can play, and they have scored some really nice tries. We will definitely make sure we have ants in our blood and perform well on Saturday.”
IOL Sport