Jake White discusses selection challenges ahead of URC Playoffs
SELECTION HEADACHES Jake White has given insight into the Bulls' strategic selection challenges and team management tactics ahead of the URC Playoffs, highlighting key factors behind Leinster's knockout struggles and the Bulls' finals setbacks. Seen here: Hooker Akker van der Merwe with the ball. Photo: BackpagePix
Image: BackpagePix
For a rugby tournament that runs as long as the United Rugby Championship (URC), the key to winning the title can be debated ad nauseam.
Leinster once again dominated the group stages, in which each side played a gruelling schedule of 18 matches.
Leinster ended top of the table on 76 points, eight ahead of the second-placed Bulls.
The Bulls also enjoyed a six-point cushion over the Sharks, while Glasgow Warriors completed the top four with their 59-point tally.
Key Factors Behind Leinster's URC Knockout Struggles and Bulls' Finals Setbacks
Leinster have been the team to beat in the last few seasons of the URC, but they have been unable to carry that dominance into the knockout stages since the last title they won was in 2021.
Since then, the Bulls have twice finished runners-up and, in fact, lost in the final on their home turf to Glasgow Warriors last season.
It brings up then, what ultimately proved to be the difference for the winners? There’s always the debate of when to rest players and how often your first choice team should run out onto the park.
Bulls coach Jake White said there would be no way of not knowing which approach worked ahead of time.
"Only what happens on June 14 [URC final] can answer that question. If you rest players and then they look underdone, then you're open to criticism. But it could also backfire if you keep playing your best team, or it could be called a masterstroke if it works out,” White told SportsBoom.co.za.
"In our case, we couldn't afford to go too far away from what we have put out on the field because we have a lot of players unavailable and the last four or five weeks have been knockout rugby - we had to win, or we would not get a home semifinal.”
Strategic Team Management: How Jake White Prepared for the Playoffs
Given their testing run to the quarter-finals, as they are due to host Edinburgh on May 31 at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, White gave insight into how he was able to safely manage his team’s run.
"The team has shown they are able to handle the pressure of big games. You can't go away from wanting cohesion and being ready to play playoff rugby. Which is why I took Ruan Nortje off with 14 minutes left, leaving us with one forward short. I didn't want to risk him when we had already won the game, and it allowed me to see if the team were clever enough to manage the game with 14 men and not go in unnecessarily at the breakdown and use four-man lineouts with a new caller. It worked perfectly. But that sort of thing you can only do on the run; you can't plan it.”