After the Bulls' 59-22 defeat at Franklin's Gardens, Planet Rugby's James While caught up with Director of Rugby Jake White, who did his best to turn a disappointing quarter-final performance into a positive. Ta.
The Bulls entered halftime trailing by just six points, 28-22, and the game appeared to be even until the Saints responded early in the second half.
“I wasn’t happy with the way we played in the first period, but I was glad to be in the game at the half-time whistle, especially because at one stage we were down 28-10 and it was like, You know?’ That could get away from us,” White commented.
“The message was to not let them get off to a good start after half-time and not do what we did against Leinster, where we conceded two quick tries to them after the break. That was really disappointing, but we just showed our true sweetness again in terms of continuing our good form going into the second period.
“In terms of understanding, our captain was very clear at half-time that the next 10 minutes were important, so it was really frustrating that Northampton basically scored from the kick-off. They took it and then they played great” – and once they score it’s catch-up time and it’s really difficult to play catch-up rugby at full strength against Northampton, as we saw in the Premiership. . ”
Northampton Saints beat a depleted Bulls with nine tries and head to a showdown with Leinster in the Champions Cup semi-finals
young star
With quality individual performances from Cameron Hanekom and Sebastian de Klerk, White was pleased with some aspects of the team's learning, which will allow the players to develop and gain important experience. I was quick to point it out.
“What's interesting is that Hannekom is 21, I think Seb is 24, but the lock who played at five, JF van Heerden, is only 19. When it comes to young players, that's the nature we have. Many of the Springbok players play overseas, including in Japan, France and England, and experienced local professional players also play overseas.”
“I said to Phil Dowson in the changing room earlier that we have no right to come here and just expect to win games. As a team we have to pay our fees. Racing 92, last two Take the finals, they've always been there or so. They're a great club, they have a huge budget, but they still can't get over the line to compete at this level. You will see that you need to gain a lot of yards and spend a lot of time and effort.
love competition
“To be fair, this is an incredible competition. Leinster are a world-class team, but they didn't win last year or the year before. Courtney Laws told us, 'The Premiership and the Champions Cup. You've probably heard it said, “Which one would you rather win?” His reaction shows how valuable this tournament is.
“I have to stress because I think people are reading it completely wrong that I am not unhappy about being here. In fact, I love this competition. I love the fact that we get exposed to this, and I love being able to learn what these players learned tonight. I mean, the style might be a little different. It's not as conservative and realistic as Test rugby, but the intensity is there and it's a fight to win.
“What I really think we learned as a group is that not only did they score 59 points, but they didn't even concede a try at the end after going through a 10-on-15 phase. It just goes to show that if you want to be a great team, you have to have an all-around game.
“So, let me be clear: we want to be in this tournament. We want to win and be a strong team that can give it our all and be competitive every weekend, but we want to be a strong team that can give it our all and be competitive every weekend, but we want to be a strong team that can win and be competitive every weekend, but This is our second year competing in this competition.For some of the guys, it's their first time flying business class.For others, it's their first time traveling overseas, so they're looking into it. When we put it in, we see that we still have a ways to go.
“In terms of change, I want to touch on this as well. As coaches, we tell our players, “Opportunities will come.'' No. 8 Cameron Hanekom played well, but it was his first game back in about seven or eight weeks. Left winger Stravino Jacobs – Returned for the first time in about six months after injury. Now, again, if you leave it alone for another week, people will say, “Wow, why? He hasn't played in that long.” Why leave it for so long? And the situation is very tough and we have to develop these players.
“And one of the difficult things about being a coach is you can't just tell me who's injured when there's a big game next week. The reality is that the industry I'm in is very competitive. It's going to happen soon.'' Like I said, you have 12 guys injured and the opposition is looking at five of them who might not be able to play next week. No one would do that. You can't go to Google or Northampton's website and find out how many players were injured last week. In other words, the reality is that you can only control what you can control.
I want South Africans to come back.
“My wish is for all the players who are playing overseas to come back and play for the South African franchise in this competition. Today in the Harlequins game Tyrone Green was the man of the match. -I think it was The Match. He's a South African, and there are a lot of others. What if we could bring those guys back into the franchise? Here, RG Snyman, Jason Jenkins, Liebenberg, who plays for Leicester. I would like to talk to – the list goes on.
“I want you to understand that we can't afford to sign Kiwis, Fijians and Tongans like we can in the European market. We don't have that for a number of reasons. One reason is visas. Yes, and the other thing is the money that can be paid to players in rands, not what they can get abroad, so you have to compare apples to apples, not apples to pears. .
“I think it's going to take time, but we're getting closer. This is what I meant by paying my tuition. Every time I do that, we're one step closer to where we think we can get to.”
read more: Northampton vs. Bulls: 5 takeaways from 'absolutely huge' Saints letting 'depleted' visitors pack their bags
