Bulls coach Jake White heaps praise on veteran fullback Willie Le Roux

Bulls coach Jake White has hailed the immediate affect of Springbok legend and fullback Willie le Roux at Loftus. 

The vastly experienced Le Roux, 34, marked his impressive debut with a try during their 53-27 United Rugby Championship (URC) win over Connacht at Loftus on Saturday.

The arrival of Le Roux, who won successive Rugby World Cup winners' medals with the Springboks, will help backs like Sebastian de Klerk, Stedman Gans, David Kriel, Sergeal Petersen, Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse. 

“I can’t believe he gets all the flak he gets,” White said after the weekend's commanding win. 

“You saw [on Saturday], it is the first time he is playing for the Bulls and it looks like he has been with us since four years ago when I started here. He’s got unbelievable time, he is very skilful, clever and I am really happy he has come to the Bulls.

“You can already see what impact he’s had with guys like Canan, Kurt-Lee, Sebastian and Sergeal playing on the wings. It is almost like having a coach coaching them while the game is going on.” 

White was asked if Le Roux can prolong his stay with the Springboks. The coach said he the fullback will make it difficult for other fullback candidates to dislodge him if he stays healthy. 

“I can’t answer whether he is going to play for the national team because that’s not my job but I have no doubt that as long as he plays like he is and he stays healthy, he is going to make very difficult for other players to kick him out.” 

The Bulls are sitting in third place in the URC with 20 points from six matches. White said there is a much improvement his side needs to make. 

“It will be cohesion in defence, that’s the one area I would think we need to improve in. Our attack is getting better and better.

“You can’t always compare things but the Sharks lost 13-12 to Connacht and we scored more than 50 points against them. It just shows you how tough it is to score points against Connacht. 

“Attack-wise I am happy. The one area we need to work on from a cohesive point of view is our defensive accuracy. It is not lack of effort, it is just that now and again we are not as accurate as we need to be.” 

The Bulls host the Sharks at Loftus on Saturday.