Euro tour a dress rehearsal for Bulls to slip into knock-out mode

The Bulls will engage knock-out mode in next month's United Rugby Championship tour matches against Munster and Glasgow Warriors.

Bulls director of rugby Jake White sees the tour as a dress rehearsal for what may be in store at the business end of the tournament. It will be an opportunity to tighten up their game and yield to pragmatism over try-scoring expressionism.

The Bulls have been in rich points-scoring form at home, but in doing so they've let the opposition enjoy passages of dominance. In vastly different conditions, however, their tour matches present them the opportunity to place the accent more on holding their defensive lines, playing for territory and keeping the ball close to the protective blanket of their forwards.

“We could get Munster in the quarterfinal and Glasgow away in the semifinal and Leinster in the final,” White said. “It will be like a dress rehearsal, the same grounds, the same hotels et cetera.

“That will be my message when we get on the plane. It is a great way for us to see how good we are away from home. See if we can beat them in knock-out rugby. Whether we like it or not, it is not about bonus points any more. It is about playing knock-out rugby on this tour.”

Still the Bulls, who are placed third, cannot yet take their eye off the points table. They want to secure second spot behind Leinster to avoid having to travel for the semifinal.

“We have a tough tour. We have Munster and Glasgow and we know how strong those teams are. We still have our destiny in our hands and we have to make sure we have a good tour and get as many points as we can.”

White's team should board the plane emboldened. The Bulls took a while to get going before thoroughly vanquishing Zebre Parma 63-24 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. “They are not an easy side. As I said before, they beat Munster, they beat Ulster and were within a point of beating the Sharks last weekend,” said White.

Zebre were poor though. They are tricky from broken play but all too often they abandoned their defensive lines.

The Bulls were full of running but they were also loose, which allowed the visitors scoring opportunities. It was only in the final quarter that the hosts hit their straps, thanks largely to the precision that came from their bench.

White was pleased his team resembled the Bulls' time-honoured brand in the last 20 minutes.

“I was happy with the bench. We got better and better as the game went on. It looked like the Bulls used to be and now I'm talking about the last 100 years. We got down there (Zebre's 22) and we were clinical, we finished. We showed power and touches of finesse in the 22 as well. I'm happy with that.”

He was also pleased his team did not lose more players to the casualty room.

“You've got to have your best players on the field to make sure you play your best rugby in the last three weeks. We have seen what happens, you can win all these games and be top of the log and is still not guaranteed to win the competition.”