No doom and gloom for Bulls, insists White after Stormers defeat

Though a bitter pill to swallow, the defeat against their old rivals does not mean doom and gloom for the Bulls, insists director of rugby Jake White.

The Stormers defied the odds at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday to beat the Bulls 19-16 in an error-ridden game heavily influenced by torrential rain before kickoff and a steady downpour thereafter.

“We are third on the log,” White reminded. “We put some points in the bag when we were away from home. That's always important.”

White's mood would have brightened later in the evening when second-placed Glasgow Warriors slipped up 32-31 in an unexpected last-minute defeat to the feisty Ospreys.

Still, the Bulls were left with much to lament in the wake of another derby defeat on home soil. There might have been a school of thought that a tighter contest in the steady rain might suit the Bulls, especially given their prowess at the scrum, but outside that facet they displayed a chronic failure to control the ball.

“In the first half our line-out was a bit shoddy,” White admitted. “We never won any aerial contests the whole game. Every time there was an up and under, we were less efficient than the Stormers.

“They kicked really well. They put us under pressure. That try came when they isolated Sebastian [de Klerk], we knocked it on, it hit Paul de Wet on the fly and [Wandisile] Simelane used football skills to score.

“The ball never bounced into our hands and it happens sometimes. When it did, we knocked it on. The conditions didn't make it easy but we made it hard for ourselves.”

Physically the Stormers were up for the challenge. Captain Salmaan Moerat was perhaps more fired up than usual and generally speaking combativeness permeated the visitors' ranks, especially on defence.

They often beat the Bulls to the punch.

“The Stormers were good,” conceded White. “They contested very well. But that's their game. It frustrates everyone. We know they kick up and unders and we know they live off whatever comes off that.”

On that score, White lamented the loss of Springbok wing Canan Moodie in the fourth minute.

“He is probably the best under the high ball for us. We also lost Cobus Wiese and Marco van Staden within 47 minutes. That comes with a break in rhythm and cohesion, so I thought we did well to come back and take the lead,” said White about Ruan Vermaak's try on the hour mark.

With his team three points behind Glasgow Warriors and seven clear of the Sharks having played a game more, White is bracing for the challenge ahead.

“We just have to regroup. We have some tough games coming up. It is not doom and gloom. We need to get to the quarterfinals and have our best team on the field and play as well as we can. We are in a better place than the other [SA] teams.

“We have some medical assessments coming through tomorrow [Sunday]. We have two weeks off then some players are off to that Springbok alignment camp and then we regroup for those games against Leinster and Zebre.”