Bulls braced for physical Jukskei derby battle, says Ackermann

Maintaining intensity for the full 80 minutes and making sure they cash in on every 22m entry will be priorities for the Bulls when they face the Lions in the eagerly awaited Jukskei derby on Saturday, says coach Johan Ackermann.

The Bulls have their tails up after a hard-earned 19-17 United Rugby Championship win over Edinburgh last week, and Ackermann said his team are ready for a highly physical battle against the Lions (kickoff 2.30pm).

The Lions pulled off a stunning 43-33 win over the Bulls at Loftus at the end of 2025, and Ackermann’s side are out for revenge.

“It’s a massive challenge for us to go to Ellis Park and see if we can get a result,” Ackermann said. “We must go in and embrace the challenge.

“They were very good when they beat us at Loftus. We have to recover from our trip to Edinburgh and make sure we are refreshed for what will be a highly physical battle.

“All teams strive for that perfect game where you finish every 22m entry, so that is a big work-on for us ahead of Ellis Park.

ou seldom will have all the momentum or control the game for 80 minutes. But we can’t have those fluctuations, those massive highs and massive lows. It will help if we can get more consistency in our 80 minutes overall and drop our error rate.
— Johan Ackermann, Bulls coach

“I think the first positive is that we made Edinburgh work hard in that first half. Even though we made some silly errors and gave them opportunities, we really made them work. Then in the second half we got what we needed.

“It was early points just to get back in the game. We missed a fair number of opportunities — we had a few penalties, line-out mauls and scrums — but the composure was probably the big thing.

“We played in an area where we could have controlled the game, and when it counted, we got the points we needed. But in the future, starting this week against the Lions, we have to be more clinical.

“You seldom will have all the momentum or control the game for 80 minutes. But we can’t have those fluctuations, those massive highs and massive lows. It will help if we can get more consistency in our 80 minutes overall and drop our error rate.

“Early on, we got the dominance at scrum time. When we had to get the line-outs to score more tries, it worked. So, yes, there were pleasing moments.”

Ackermann credited his players for a valuable win on the road against Edinburgh, where they overturned a 17-5 half-time deficit to claim the victory.

The Lions’ points came from tries by Marcell Coetzee, Johan Grobbelaar, Marco van Staden and Handre Pollard, who kicked two conversions.

“We spoke about it earlier, and there was no panic against Edinburgh,” Ackermann said. “There was a massive belief we could turn it around.

“Edinburgh are tough at the breakdown.They contest every breakdown, so we had to clean that up and make sure we get our ball because they obviously slow your ball down.

“Everything we spoke about, the players really executed in the second half.