Jeepers his career has come full circle.
He started his playing career at the Bulls.
Jeepers his career has come full circle.
He started his playing career at the Bulls.
Great coach
I agree, but let’s see if he wins the URC next year.
I wonder what Jake will be doing now?
Lets hope Ackermann will do it right….
Mozart
If Acketman's Bulls win the RWC Cup next season he would achiece something White never did.My own impression the Bulls will in future play hinking rugby in future.
Mike if Ackerman’s Bulls win the RWC next season he will indeed have accomplished something that White never did.
It would also be the first club side to win a RWC, and the first to win it outside the 4 year period
What’s next, the Boks winning the URC?
Ackerman is tipped to win best coach at the Oscars next year.
Starrie, I so wish you were here when Akkerman was the Lions coach. They played to all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses. The Stormers have tried to emulate that but never actually succeeded.
I can promise you that these Boks, on their best day, don't match that Lions team on a slightly above average day. They might match them in strength but that Lions team was better at everything else. There was no boring kicking over and over. No "we was born to tackle" nonsense. They played smart rugby, stretching the field, tiring opponents, kicked offensively and switched up their attacks so damn well. I'll always maintain that somebody needs to study what they did.
They were beating the Kiwi sides by massive scores...something no other SA team had done before nor since. And they were doing in regularly. Unfortunately, much like the Bulls, kept getting to finals but then falling at the final hurdle.
The standard in SR at that point was far ahead of the standard in today's URC and they were just consistently thrashing all comers, at home or away. There were very few easy games...no Italian and Welsh sides to slap around.
It such an anomaly that most here didn't really talk about it much or try to dissect it. It was just like "Oh, the Lions are thrashing the Crusaders again. We've never seen this happen before but...okay."
I'm super stoked to have Akkerman back...and my head might explode if Whitely joins him at the Bulls.
The Bulls already have that forward dominance and that cohesive pack. Now watch what happens when they get a coach that allows the team to think for themselves and play altitude rugby.
They were beating the Kiwi sides by massive scores...something no other SA team had done before nor since. And they were doing in regularly. Unfortunately, much like the Bulls, kept getting to finals but then falling at the final hurdle.
Okay so lets look this up, in 2016 the Lions played New Zealand times 5 times winning 3. The first against the Chiefs a tight win of 36-32, lost comfortably to the highlanders 15-34, best the Crusader by 42-25 a big win, beat the Highlanders next 42-30 before loosing to the Hurricanes 3-20.
Well so big wins and some big losses.
2017 looks like the Lions only played New Zealand teams twice winning one well and losing the final.
While in 2018 the Lions lost all 5 games to New Zealand teams. I know Ackerman was gone by this point but they still got to the final.
I'm sure they were a good team back then but I'm not exactly quaking in my boots.
The standard in SR at that point was far ahead of the standard in today's URC and they were just consistently thrashing all comers, at home or away. There were very few easy games...no Italian and Welsh sides to slap around.
I think your overhyping the pudding.
As for no teams to slap around, didn't the Lions put near 100 points on the Sun Wolves. The Southern Kings were pretty crap too. There was or two duff Australian teams as well.
Maybe it is better than modern day URC but the old Champions Cup was probably the best club competition in the world at the time.
The Bulls already have that forward dominance and that cohesive pack. Now watch what happens when they get a coach that allows the team to think for themselves and play altitude rugby.
Leinster still have the better team. Really the question shouldn't be whether the Bulls can win the URC, is can they win the URC and the Champions Cup.
"As for no teams to slap around, didn't the Lions put near 100 points on the Sun Wolves. The Southern Kings were pretty crap too. There was or two duff Australian teams as well."
Admittedly, I did forget about the Sunwolves. I did say there were "very few easy games".
From 2017 onwards that Lions team faded and the good players left. This coincided with Akkerman leaving.
Pity that the Champions cup teams you are talking about never played the SR teams so we're relying purely on your opinion.
However, if we look at how the NH went against SH teams internationally...well, we know that England got their arses handed to them at the 2019 WC, and though Ireland have a good win rate against the Boks...it's still a general story of dominance of the SH over NH teams.
"Leinster still have the better team. Really the question weshouldn't be whether the Bulls can win the URC, is can they win the URC and the Champions Cup."
Really, the question is whether the Bulls could raise the same amount of capital that Leinster, Munster and Edinburgh can...because I'm willing to be that with the same budgets, the Stormers and Bulls would walk those competitions.
Here's chats budget summary...I didn't check it for accuracy, but if it's close to accurate then kindly hop back in your little contrarian box.
1. Leinster (Ireland)
2. Munster (Ireland)
3. Stormers, Bulls, Sharks (South Africa)
4. Edinburgh (Scotland)
I wonder if Ackermann will keep the other coaches like Bekker? It would be nice if Swys can join…in my opinion he was one of the best attack coaches in the business…..
Ackerman inherits the Bulls with Pollard, Jan Serfontein, Paul de Wet and Nico Janse v Rensburg joining them
Pity that the Champions cup teams you are talking about never played the SR teams so we're relying purely on your opinion.
Well I just think with all the really strong French and English teams over the years it was a very tough competition, and when combine it with playing in a league at the same time the two competitions really do stretch resources.
However, if we look at how the NH went against SH teams internationally...well, we know that England got their arses handed to them at the 2019 WC, and though Ireland have a good win rate against the Boks...it's still a general story of dominance of the SH over NH teams.
That's international, it doesn't necessarily translate to club.
Really, the question is whether the Bulls could raise the same amount of capital that Leinster, Munster and Edinburgh can...because I'm willing to be that with the same budgets, the Stormers and Bulls would walk those competitions.
Here's chats budget summary...I didn't check it for accuracy, but if it's close to accurate then kindly hop back in your little contrarian box.
There is no doubt that the Irish provinces operating on a higher budget than the South African teams but those numbers seem off to me, Edinburgh on £20 million pounds is sketchy as hell, their Stadium only hosts 8,000 people. I know Leinster strongly dispute the numbers, though player salary isn't too far off.
Munster are fair chunk further back from Leinster, and I know both they and Ulster are actually pretty cash strapped due to debts they have building their respective stadiums and have been for a few years.
I'm willing to bet they wouldn't walk those competitions with that extra money. Firstly you still be mile behind the French, but money isn't everything. Leinster have won the Champions Cup in years where they operated on budgets far less than the French. It helps but its not the be all and end all. Leinster academy system is probably the best in the world.
This comes across as Southern Hemisphere arrogance, like your entitled to win. If you loose its because of the ref or money.
Well I'll kindly put you back in the contrarian box by pointing out all the other non South African URC teams have a much smaller pool of players to choose from than South African's and with the exception of little old Wales, its not the main sport of those countries either. Rugby its only Ireland 4th sport. If I Ireland went on a mad bonking spree and got our population up 10 times and push rugby to be the no 1 port here, I'm sure we put 50 points on the Springboks every time :D
Well, the SA teams back then really took a dip as many players left. We also had a policy of low foreign based players. So a bunch of lions players made the bok team like Skosan. However, they couldn't translate that to test form.
The lions did play great expansive rugby but was often outplayed by Kiwi teams. They could beat them on a good day but not in the final. Their problem was that they played abroad and the wetter conditions of New Zealand counted against them. They use a great pitch at Ellis Park and Fantastic weather. Or super rugby teams took a massive nose dive then.
Akkerman haven't been shooting out the lights since he left. He had some success with Gloucester but not the same level as van Graan at Bath.
His Jap team got relegated. Robbie Deans is the top coach in Japan. Given that the Japanese teams are pretty even when it comes to players.
So I'm curious to see what he can do.
As much Jake style of rugby frustrates me, Ackerman has a great squad. He'll need to fill some gaps where Jake fell short. For some reason Jake was obsessed with older players and so many flankers. Jake could never get his backline to function properly. Hopefully Ackerman can sort that out.
I hope Serfontein and Pollard can still produce. They are both now 31. Not too old, but let's see what happens.
Now they just need Jessica Kriel and the trio is complete
Ackerman inherited John Mitchell's team and playing style.
It remains to be seen how good he is, because he has not found anything similar with different teams.
John Mitchell must technically be one of the best coaches in the world, but he lacks people management skills, which is even much worse than Jake White's. Everywhere he goes their is a player revolt.
He would blame the bus driver and everyone and sundry if the team has a bad game.
Franco Smith would have been my choice.
Ja, just checked Ackers record in Japan, doesn't make for pretty reading at all. Not sure if he was under funded but they do lack international start quality, but the team was always at the bottom half of the table and then got relegated. The top teams had more international players from NZ, SA and Aus.
Let's see what he can bring to the bulls. Maybe the culture and being back home will help him.
The good news is that he is involved with the Baby boks and they have some great talent from the bools ont display. So maybe we'll see those talented players coming through sooner.
"I'm willing to bet they wouldn't walk those competitions with that extra money. Firstly you still be mile behind the French, but money isn't everything."
You right.
Money isn't everything. It's not the only thing allowing the Euro teams to be competitive.
Care to show us a chart of teams that have won the Champions cup and where they rank in terms of cash flow?
I haven't looked at the numbers but I'm gonna bet that the top 20% richest clubs win no less than 80% of the competitions.
With money you buy talent and the best coaches.
The best coaches don't get you money or talent and best talent doesn't get you coaches or money.
Al things being equal, money is the most important thing.
For all the rave about Ackers, he has not won any gold yet. Even Dobbo has won a URC title already, so let’s wait and see.
3 SR finals is some achievement though. And the important thing is the team that he did it with...a group of kids and nobodies.
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