‘We don’t have time to sulk’: Bulls under pressure after Stormers defeat
Bulls coach Johan Ackermann said they have less margin for defeats lying eighth with just six games left in the regular URC season.
Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann said his side heaped pressure on themselves in the United Rugby Championship after their 32-19 defeat to the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday.
A four-match winning streak had revived their season after seven straight defeats. But the loss to the Capetonians simultaneously handed the Bulls their worst-ever South African Shield finish in last place and left their overall top-eight position precarious.
While the Bulls still hold eighth place, they are level on 30 points with ninth-placed Connacht, who beat Scarlets, and are only ahead on points difference. Ospreys sit 10th with 29 points.
Meanwhile, the Bulls are only within immediate reach of the Lions, who are three points ahead.
‘We added pressure on ourselves’
The Bulls face a demanding run of fixtures. They host Cardiff and Munster over the next two weeks before travelling to Glasgow Warriors in the Champions Cup last 16.
Should they win, they will play the quarter-final the following week, before returning to the URC away against the Dragons and Scarlets. The Champions Cup semi-final follows, before the Bulls face Zebre and Benetton at home.
That rounds out the URC regular season before the Champions Cup final on 23 May, and URC play-offs the following weeks.
“We just added pressure on ourselves now,” Ackermann said. “Our margin for losing games is getting less and less. If we won at home now we could have probably eased the pressure on away games.”
He said there would now be more pressure on the Bulls to secure home wins against Cardiff and Munster before a month on the road.
“I said to the players now that this hurts because of the manner that we played, but we don’t have time to sulk. It’s a short turnaround.
“Hopefully we will [bounce back] well because we have to perform to stay in touch with everyone.”
Bulls coach rues errors
Ackermann described the defeat as “a game of what-ifs”.
If an early try had not been disallowed for a knock-on, if they had attacked the blindside on a line break when the Stormers were down to 13 men, or avoided other errors, the Bulls could have led 14-7 at halftime and changed the course of the match.
“Everything was just not lekker today. Our lineouts, our maul defence, our attack fluency. In our last two games it felt like all the 50/50s went our way when the ball went in the air.” This time, it didn’t.
He commended the Stormers for clearly being the better side in the second half.
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