When Bulls' Moodie, Arendse get the ball, 'the crowd knows something will happen'

Bulls coach Jake White was full of praise for his defence after the Pretoria team thrashed Cardiff 45-9 in their United Rugby Championship (URC) match at Loftus on Saturday night.

The Bulls ran in six unanswered tries, including a well-taken brace by emerging Bok winger Canan Moodie, as they moved to second spot on the log behind Leinster and ahead of the Stormers in third.

A deserved bonus-point win for White and his men was overshadowed by news that Springbok winger Sbu Nkosi has been missing for three weeks.

White said the scoreline was not a true reflection of the game against Cardiff as they had to work hard for the win but he was satisfied with the performances of players like Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse.

“I just have no doubt that when you have Canan Moodie defending on the edge, he just understands everything. It’s unbelievable how he shows maturity defensively with the tackles he makes when he has to close the gate,” he said.

“When he has to wait and when he sees he has numbers on him, he makes the right call. Obviously him and Kurt-Lee Arendse understand each other well, play well together and they cover that section of the field.

“The other thing I was pleased about is we lost David Kriel early on and Cornal Hendricks defended well on the edge as well.

“It was a 45-9 win but I don’t think the scoreline is a true indicator. I think they [Cardiff] are a much better side than that and they showed that by beating the Stormers and the Sharks. For me it is a bonus in that they beat two South African sides and we got a bonus point — that is a massive swing in the competition itself.”

White is excited about the impact Moodie and Arendse are going to have in the competition and during the Heineken Champions Cup, which starts this weekend.

“Every time Canan or Kurt-Lee catch the ball, you can sense the crowd knows something is going to happen. When you combine that with guys like Cornal and Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster and Johan Goosen ... when he is on song, is fantastic.

“The challenge now is that we have to give them good ball on the front foot. In the beginning we couldn’t get the rhythm, there were a lot of slow balls — but as soon as Goosen could run into it and open up holes, we put people away. That is pleasing.

“In the first half we struggled to get any rhythm. Every time we got two to three phases we either slowed ball, which is obviously difficult to play from, or we turned it over, we lost it in contact or they managed to get a penalty for us not releasing the ball.

“We chatted about it at halftime and said what we needed to do was stay up a little longer [rather] than go to ground quickly. They were hard on the ball every time we went to ground.

“We had to work hard for the result, [even if] it sounds like it was a one-way performance. We gave them a start with two penalties in a row, they played in our half but we defended quite well to get out of our half.

“That is the thing I am most pleased about, the way we defended, because there seems to be a mindset about making sure they don’t get soft moments and it is pleasing when you defend like that.”

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