Bulls are rested, rotated, and sitting pretty as URC playoffs approach

The Bulls are handily placed in second position on the United Rugby Championship points table and coach Jake White was beaming after his team crushed Cardiff 45-21 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Pretoria men have leapfrogged the defending champions Warriors, who were well beaten in Italy by Benetton.

Apart from the unfortunate injury to the jinxed flyhalf Johan Goosen, the Bulls are poised for a strong tilt at the URC title.

The Bulls are not only on a hot winning streak but White has also been enjoying the luxury of rotating his players.

“For Zak Burger to play 80 minutes at scrumhalf today, with Embrose Papier resting, didn’t worry me because he’s had enough game time this season. For Keagan Johannes to come on at 10 early in the game for Johan didn’t worry me because he’s played 10 in big games this season.”

Goosen left the field on a golf cart in the 12th minute and was in serious pain as he clutched his troublesome knee.

“I feel for the guy,” the upset White said.

The Bulls enjoyed a fantastic start to the game. Cardiff had been the best-performing Welsh side in the URC and White knew they had to be put under pressure early on. The Bulls accordingly raced to a 31-0 half-time lead.

“It was one of those games where we wanted to go through Cardiff because they are a very difficult side to get around,” said White. “And we picked a team that could do that.

“Our pack weighs 940kg which allowed us to play that style against Cardiff – short lines going through the middle. If you consider how many carries a guy like lock Cobus Wiese had in the first 50 minutes… there was obviously a design for him to hold on to the ball and carry it into those situations.”

The Bulls were back home after a tough but successful four-week overseas tour, and they played with freedom.

“One of my messages to the players was that they must enjoy it. We must enjoy the fact that we’ve done well enough to give ourselves the chance to get a home semi by finishing second on the log, although we need to win a quarter-final first.”

The Bulls host the Dragons at Loftus on Saturday in their final league game before hosting a quarter-final on May 31.