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Jake White's reaction to Bulls home loss in front of URC record crowd

By Rugby365
:Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White during the European Rugby Champions Cup Pool A match between Exeter Chiefs and Vodacom Bulls at Sandy Park on December 17, 2022 in Exeter, England. (Photo by Bob Bradford - CameraSport via Getty Images)

Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White refused to make any excuses following his team’s 19-23 defeat to the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

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The Bulls dominated the opening exchanges of the North-South derby which was attended by a Southern Hemisphere URC record crowd of 41 205.

They enjoyed much of the possession and territory and took a 12-3 lead after just 30 minutes of play thanks to the boot of Chris Smith.

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But the hosts lost their intensity and allowed the Stormers into the match, who eventually scored two tries to retain their stranglehold in the fierce rivalry.

“It is really not nice.” White said, adding: “We dominated the possession and territory, and we trailing 12-13 at the break.

“But we will get better, and I don’t have any doubt that as players and coach, we will get it right.

“I think there is not a player in the team who didn’t give it his all and that is all you can ask for as a coach.”

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The North-South derby was not short of any drama and per usual accompanied by a couple of contention officiating decisions.

The first one that might have Bulls fans raise a few eyebrows is the try by Marcel Theunissen.

Stormers scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies showed great vision to find Theunissen unmarked with a wide pass on the left for the Stormers No.8 to go over untouched from 22 metres out.

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Both passes of Jantjies in the build-up looked questionable, but referee Marius van der Westhuizen and TMO deemed there was no evidence to overrule the on-field decision and the try was awarded.

Bulls supporters also have a right to feel aggrieved about the David Kriel yellow card for the deliberate knockdown.

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However, the Bulls boss opted to not ‘moan’ about referee calls and instead focused on his team’s missed chances.

“The forward pass [the TMO] was looking at was probably the wrong one, it probably should’ve been the one going inside not outside,” the Bulls Director of Rugby said.

“I also don’t think [Kriel] knocked it down, but that’s my view, it happens. Those are the margins. If he catches that, we score under poles.

“But that is how strict they are about it now, it was almost as if he was guilty before he even caught the ball, but I’m not going to moan about the referee or give you guys a front headline news story ‘Jake White says referees’. It is what it is.

“Even with 14 men, even with a yellow card, maybe we should’ve scored there, we still had two chances in the last two minutes of the game to finish it off and we didn’t.”

On the decision-making in the closing stages, which saw the Bulls waste a couple of good scoring opportunities, White explained his team – especially the captain Ruan Nortje – will get those calls ‘right’ as the season progresses.

“I’m not going to nail anybody because I’ve seen this movie before, we lost fair and square,” White said.

“We had a chance at the end and I think we should’ve adapted better, and we have to learn those things as we go deeper in this competition.”

White further explained: “My captain [Ruan Nortje] will get it right. He’s going through a tough time now with calls, and people double-guessing whether or not he’s making the right calls.

“I’ve been through this with [former Springbok captain] John Smit, I’ve been through this with young captains – he’ll learn, he’ll get better.

“He’s not happy and has probably dropped his head and is down on himself, but he knows how important his role is. But we’ll help him through this time.”

The Bulls are now sixth on the log and 13 points behind the Stormers in the South African Conference.

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J
Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

39 Go to comments
A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

39 Go to comments
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