Coach and captain weren't on same page

Bulls captain Dewald Potgieter will bid sayonara to South African rugby later this week to take up a club contract in Japan.

But it's doubtful that even the Zen nature of Japanese society will give him inner peace until he has the chance to atone for a series of tactical blunders during Saturday's Super 15 semifinal at Loftus.

The Bulls went down 26-23 to the Brumbies, thanks to a late Tevita Kuridrani try for the visitors. But the visitors should have been out of contention by then.

After hitting the front for the first time in the game on the hour mark when Morné Steyn landed his fifth penalty, something inexplicable happened.

The Bulls were on top and earned a straightforward penalty comfortably within Steyn's orbit. However, Potgieter instructed Steyn to kick for the corner where the Bulls went for a lineout drive.

The throw from reserve hooker Callie Visagie was sloppy and the drive disintegrated. Three minutes later referee Craig Joubert's hand shot up for another Bulls penalty. Surely they would take the three points to stretch their 20-19 lead into more comfortable territory? No. Lineout drive, same result.

A third penalty, minutes later. Surely this time? "Kick to the corner, Morné'' was the instruction from the skipper. The normally mild-mannered Frans Ludeke was fuming in the coaches' box. The Brumbies defended another lineout drive and another chance was squandered.

When the Bulls earned a fourth successive kickable penalty the message finally got to the field and Potgieter relented to allow Steyn a shot at goal.

The flyhalf duly slotted the kick and the Bulls led by four points. It could, and should, have been 13.

"My only regret is that I didn't back myself all the way and kick that fourth penalty to the corner as well," Potgieter said later.

It sounds like madness, but perhaps at that stage of the experiment, Potgieter was right.

At the post-match conference the body language between coach and captain left everyone uncomfortable. The pair sat ever so slightly turned away from each other. Ludeke is too nice to hang his players out to dry publicly, but he also didn't defend Potgieter.

"I felt we were complacent in the first 20 minutes and as a result we found ourselves behind just like we did against the Stormers two weeks ago," Potgieter said.

"So when we were behind the poles during the first half I told the guys that either we had to have an attacking mind-set or we would lose. And it worked for us because that's when we came back into the match and took control.

"That's why I made the later decisions I did. We battled to effectively exit our territory from restarts and that was another consideration. I wanted to stay down in their 22 when we were on top.

"I chatted to Morné every time we were awarded a penalty and we were in agreement. They're not a side that scores from deep. I just should have backed myself to stick to it with that last penalty."

Ludeke added tersely: "I spoke to Dewald after the game and he had a totally different view of what was happening on the field. He wanted to keep pressure on them down in their half. In my mind I wanted to build a cushion once we were in front."

On another day Potgieter's bold tactics might have paid off, but on Saturday they failed and he has to carry the burden.