Jake White doesn’t want past URC knockout failures to burden Bulls in semi

The Bulls have seen their fair share of disappointment in the knockout stages of the United Rugby Championship (URC) over the past three years, but coach Jake White does not want history to be a heavy burden on his players. 

In 2022 and 2023, the hearts of the men from Pretoria were broken by the Stormers in the final and quarterfinal respectively. Last year they were stunned by Glasgow Warriors in Pretoria in the final. 

They are in the semifinals again on Saturday where they host the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld, and White said he does not want to focus on the negativity that might come with dwelling on the heartbreaks of the past. 

Given their recent URC knockout failings, the Bulls have been labelled ‘chokers’ in certain quarters. They have a chance of getting that monkey off their backs against the Sharks and in the final. 

The Sharks qualified for the semifinal after they defeated Munster 6-4 in a place-kick competition after their hugely dramatic quarterfinal in Durban ended 24-24 after extra time. 

“The other day I read an article about chokers,” White said after the 42-33 quarterfinal win over Edinburgh at Loftus on Saturday, where his side scored tries through Cameron Hanekom, David Kriel, Harold Vorster, Canan Moodie, Keagan Johannes and Ruan Nortje. 

Edinburgh replied through a brace of tries from Wes Goosen and Ross Thompson and one from Ewan Ashman, but that was not enough as the Bulls produced a strong second-half performance to end the Scottish outfit's run in the competition. 

“I have a full-time psychologist who works with our team. How much can you give the team if your label or perception is that you are a choker? As a coach you want to make sure when players get these opportunities to play in these big games [they are confident and well-prepared]. 

“They have learnt from all the things that worked and didn’t work in the past. I said it in the past that if you tell the guy be careful of the water on the left of the hole in golf, chances are that he will hit it into the water.

“It is one of those things you don’t need to talk about.” 

White said the Bulls have to use the experience of the past to navigate through two more matches and achieve their mission of winning the trophy. 

“But you need to encourage the other side of saying where we come from, what we have done in the past, who we played against and why we didn’t pull it through in those matches. 

“That’s the way I am seeing it. We want to play in the cup final and win it. In this game against Edinburgh, the bench was different, we finished strong and our scrum was stronger in the second half than in the second halves of other games we played in the last four years.” 

As they struggled in knockout matches previously, major players were gaining valuable experience, the Springboks' 2004 Tri-Nations and 2007 World Cup-winning coach said. 

“Sometimes it is me — I need to look at what we did, who came on, how did he play, how much time did he get and who did he play with? After four years [of building the Bulls], I am happy to see the reserves that came on against Edinburgh. 

“I am happy to give confidence to a guy like Keagan Johannes with a run at No 10 and to continue the kicking at goal even though he feels like he is not striking it properly. 

“We don’t want to talk about that [the past] — what happened is irrelevant other than the fact it is going to help you. It doesn’t matter, but next week we are in a semifinal again. 

“We have beaten Leinster in the semifinal here and away from home and maybe semifinals have been the best weeks in the years I have been coaching here.

“Maybe we just have to go out there and find what works and make sure this becomes the best week again. When you are a coach, you don’t want to use words like 'lose', because that brings all the negativity to the thought process instead of positivity.” 

For the visit of the Sharks, White will rely on the experience of the Bulls' star performers such as Wilco Louw, Cobus Wiese, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Embrose Papier, Canan Moodie and Willie le Roux. 

The Sharks are not short of Springboks and they will parade stars including Aphelele Fassi, Lukhanyo Am, André Esterhuizen, Makazole Mapimpi, Jordan Hendrikse, Jaden Hendrikse, Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi, Vincent Koch, Eben Etzebeth, Jason Jenkins and Siya Kolisi.