White says how Bulls exploited England duo's absence in Bristol win
Bristol boss Pat Lam was left to reflect on “a huge turning point” of his team briefly going down to 13 players as they lost 31-17 to Investec Champions Cup opponents the Bulls.
Lam saw replacement prop Max Lahiff, who had taken over from George Kloska with Bristol having a torrid time in the scrums, sin-binned early in the second half at Ashton Gate.
It meant uncontested scrums with them being unable to field a complete front-row, and Lam’s team having to lose another player in addition to Lahiff as a result.
The Bulls stretched their lead to 17-7 with Lahiff and wing Gabriel Ibitoye still off, and rugby director Lam said: “It was a huge turning point.
“We weren’t getting the rub of the green in the scrums, so we had to change the front-row.
“The boys defended well with 13, but it takes a lot out of you. The scrum is a big part of the game, and fair play to the Bulls.”
Bristol must now beat Connacht in Galway to have even an outside chance of making the last 16, but they are still likely to be reliant on results elsewhere.
Lam added: “The most important thing is to get back into it, get to Connacht and see what happens on the back of that.
“Everyone knew this was a big round, so we are disappointed, but all we can control is what we can do over the next six days and get to Galway.”
Lam, meanwhile, confirmed that England prop Kyle Sinckler missed the game due to a hip injury, but is hopeful of him being involved against Connacht.
Bristol were overpowered by a physical, unrelenting Bulls team, conceding tries to wing Sergeal Petersen, prop Khutha Mchunu, flanker Elrigh Louw and hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels, with fly-half Johan Goosen kicking three conversions and a penalty, and centre David Kriel landing one conversion.
Bulls’ bonus-point triumph owed everything to their overwhelming scrummaging superiority, with Bristol restricted to tries from scrum-half Kieran Marmion, wing Ibitoye and number eight Magnus Bradbury, plus one AJ MacGinty conversion.
Bristol were without injured internationals Callum Sheedy, Ellis Genge and Sinckler, while Bulls boss Jake White opted to rest his South Africa World Cup-winning quartet of Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Marco van Staden.
Bulls head coach White admitted that the absence of Sinckler and his fellow England prop Genge from Bristol’s line-up was something his team looked to exploit.
“To be fair, we did say before the game that without Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler it was an area we were going to target, so to get a return like that at scrum time is obviously very pleasing,” White said.
“The old adage of forwards winning the game and the backs determining by how much is exactly what happened today.
“I think it is the biggest win the Bulls have had in Champions Cup rugby. I am really happy with our all-round performance.
“Our destiny is in our hands now. We have got Bordeaux at home now, and if we win that then we definitely finish in the top two in the group.
“Away wins are premium. Not many away sides win in any competition, never mind the Champions Cup. An away win and a bonus point is something we will enjoy.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to comments