Blue Bulls' defensive shortcomings continue to hinder their Currie Cup progress

25 August 2016 - 18:37 By Chumani Bambani

The Blue Bulls will attempt to solve their many defensive frailties when they face the Sharks in a Currie Cup clash in Durban on Saturday (6:10pm). The Pretoria side may have won two matches (they beat Western Province and the Eastern Province Kings)‚ with one defeat to the Free State Cheetahs‚ in their opening games of the season‚ but the holes in their rearguard were still laid bare.Nollis Marais’ charges have produced some good attack and have not had difficulty scoring tries.But leaking a mammoth 15 tries in just three matches is cause for concern‚ especially for a side that boasted one of the best defensive records in the Super Rugby competition.“Our biggest problem is that we can score 15 tries‚ like we did in the last three games‚ but we also concede 15‚” Marais admitted.“Yes‚ of course [it is a concern]. Fifteen tries [conceded] in three games is a big issue for us. We can’t be the best or second-best defence side in Super Rugby and then our defence is like that in the Currie Cup. There is a huge step up that we have to make. We need to fix it this weekend or else the Sharks will exploit it.“It’s individual errors‚ not a system failure. We used the same system in Super Rugby and we were very good. Now it’s guys making small individual errors.” The Bulls have been far from satisfactory in their previous two matches.They began their campaign on a high with an impressive opening victory against Western Province‚ but collapsed against the Cheetahs before a hard-fought victory against the bottom-of-the-log Kings last weekend.The side from Pretoria is well aware of where their shortcomings have been so far in the competition.“It’s very easy‚” was Marais' diagnosis of the current problems.“We are not accurate enough and that is costing us turnovers and our opposition play from those turnovers. If we kept the ball as well as we did against Western Province‚ we can easily put in 30 or 40 points against other teams.“If we start losing momentum‚ making wrong decisions‚ bringing the bench on and throws are not accurate in our lineouts then our opponents gain momentum from that and start believing in themselves‚ and we get into trouble.“If we don’t have a good exit like in the past two matches‚ against the Cheetahs and Kings‚ then they will put you under pressure. It is very difficult to defend five metres from the line in every game when you are under pressure.” Returning from Kings Park Stadium with a victory will be no easy feat for the Bulls.They will be up against a Sharks side that is beaming with confidence after claiming three wins out of three matches so far‚ collecting a maximum 15 log points in the process.The Sharks comfortably top the Currie Cup log‚ one point ahead of the Cheetahs‚ while the Bulls sit in third with 10 points.- TMG Digital..

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