Ex Supersport
Death and taxes are the only two certainties in life, they say. We reckon Bulls rugby must have come awfully close to making that list.
It was another stellar year for the men from Pretoria in this regard.
In what was a topsy-turvy season for everyone else, they kept their fortress Versveld unbreached, winning every match played in front of their faithful fans. What is more, they lost every single time they set foot outside the Loftus gate, with even the 50km trip down the N1 being a step too far for them this year. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA)
We were very surprised then to hear coach Frans Ludeke’s take on 2014 after his team once again travelled to a loss this past Saturday.
“Consistency is what cost us this season. We weren’t consistent every weekend this season...”
What? There are a lot of things you weren’t but consistent isn’t one of them.
Just look at the stats. Your team scored the second fewest tries in the competition and ranked stone last in all of the following categories*:
- Clean breaks
- Metres gained
- Defenders beaten
- Offloads
How did you manage that without being consistently bad?
Pretty much nothing we’ve seen on the field this year was as dependable as the Bulls lineout. Statistically theirs was the competition’s best by far. But was all that investment in tall timber worth it? Let this help you answer it for yourself: the three matches in which they stole the most lineout ball were all lost. (PLEASE NOTE DR MOZ LINEOUT WINS ARE NOT EVERYTHING)
If only some of that time, effort and especially selections were aimed at fixing their breakdown woes. Overall their ruck success percentage was third worst of all the teams, but outside Pretoria that worsened significantly with the team averaging seven turnovers on the ground per match.
If you want to know why their results list looks like Moses hit it with a stick, look no further than the way in which they failed to look after their own ball in contact when on the road.
The most consistent aspect of Bulls rugby this season, however, was their response to losses. Pretty much every defeat was met with a well-rehearsed “We executed poorly”.
It’s been the standard excuse since they last made it to a major final in 2010.
Let’s discuss it then. If for four years your players fail to execute one of the simplest game-plans in the competition, something has to be wrong with either the players chosen or the game-plan that is forced on them.
Is it the talent at their disposal? Well, consider the example of Waratahs flank Jacques Potgieter. Nothing more than an honest crash-baller and a decent lineout option when trained in Pretoria, he blossomed into a gap-seeking, offloading, ruck cleaning all-rounder worth three of his former self in just one season under Australian tutelage.
The Bulls have three squads worth of Potgieters at their disposal. They just don’t know what to do with them. (HOOR HOOR!!)
“We executed poorly.” That’s like criticising a tightead prop for not breaking the school’s high-jump record, noting only that he didn’t bend his back enough.
The fact is the Bulls are physically incapable of playing the game that is asked of them. Their whole game-plan requires physical dominance of contact situations, but they don’t have a single player available to them that is capable of providing that on a regular basis. (NOT QUITE TRUE -WILLEMSE, FLIP, DU PLESSIS AND GREYLING ARE PHYSICALLY UP TO IT AND THE REST OKAY. HE HAS A POINT THOUGH ABOPUT BREAKDOWN AND RUCKS - ATTITUDE)
Take their team-list and put it next to the competition’s 14 others and you’ll soon realise that in terms of physical impact they’ll rank right about where they are lying on the log.
What the Bulls do have, however, is a structure that feeds them the country’s best young talent year after year. At every age-group and in every position they have a player that has the potential to become a great. Most of that talent is just spat out by the Bulls machine because no one there knows how to unlock it.
One shudders to think what a feeder system like the Bulls’ could have produced if, like Jac Pot, it landed in the hands of someone whose main aim is to up-skill and empower talented players.
What the Bulls need to realise is that it is no use sitting on a gold mine if all you’re looking to unearth is bulky quarry stones.
It is ironic that the Bulls would blame a lack of consistency for their woes, when it is actually their same old same old mentality that caused it; that a lack of execution is pointed out when it’s a lack of imagination that is at fault.
One thing will remain consistent for as long as the Bulls continue to force every bit of talent at their disposal into a size-dependant mould that is becoming increasingly obsolete in the age of professional rugby: a lack of results.
The only way forward for those in charge is to start digging. Find that gold, polish it and don’t ever use it only to coat the blunt end of a hammer.
Lots of truth here but thebiggest question is why cant the bulle win away from home. Thye ahve never done to well away from loftus. I think it has much to do with Altitude and ATTITUDE.
They squander a huge amount of imported talent (PLEASE NOTE THAT BIT WINDPOMP -)
What the bulle need as I have said before is a smart coach. Think - Rassie, Mallet and Venter. Their financial smarts is not matched by their rugby smarts.
I hope Owen Meany gets to read this post has he has no clue as to what is happening re the bulle. Rose coloured spectacles - die magtige Bulle nonsense.
