Lukhanyo Am of the Sharks challenged by Nizaam Carr of the Bulls during the United Rugby Championship 2024/25 match between Bulls and Sharks at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on the 15 February 2025. Picture: Samuel Shivambu, BackpagePix
Ashfak Mohamed
Jake White cut an understandably sombre figure in the post-match press conference, having just watched his Bulls team somehow find a way to lose 29-19 to the Sharks in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship showdown at Loftus Versfeld.
White bemoaned the poor finishing of his team as they were unable to convert several try-scoring chances in the visitors’ 22, and then were unable to stop them in defence on the counter-attack.
Wilco Louw led the resurgence for the Bulls with another outstanding display of scrummaging, and the general forward onslaught provided the hosts with vast amounts of front-foot ball.
But they struggled to find their rhythm on attack throughout, and even when the Sharks went down to 12 men in the second half – due to three yellow cards to Jason Jenkins, Corné Rahl and Ntuthuko Mchunu for repeated infringements – the Bulls couldn’t finish them off.
It's a #VURC double for the Hollywoodbets Sharks against the Vodacom Bulls in 2024/25 ✅✅ pic.twitter.com/P2rAQs5zWU
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) February 15, 2025
Instead, it was John Plumtree’s resilient Sharks side that hung in desperately before circling the Bulls and pouncing through late tries by Jordan Hendrikse, Tino Mavesere and Yaw Penxe to leave Pretoria with the most unlikely bonus-point triumph.
“We started off well, and we started the second half as well as we did in the first half,” White said.
“I thought we defended the first half really well as well. The fact that it was only 10-7 says a lot, as it must have been about 80 percent territory and possession in that first half as well.
“I wasn’t too concerned in the first half, because I thought with all the ball and territory they had, they didn’t really take advantage of it. So, the message at halftime was, we get to 60 minutes, and hopefully they will make their changes, and then we’ll put on our bench.
“But credit to them. When they put their bench on – maybe it worked in their favour that they rotated, as they had so many yellow cards – they were reasonably fresh.
“It takes nothing away from the fact that we weren’t at our best today. That’s not how we play since I’ve been here.
“It’s the second time we’ve played the Sharks with 13 and 12 men, and we looked as though we didn’t understand that we had a numerical advantage.
“So, we’ll have to obviously sit with them during the week and discuss the scenarios where I think we could have been a little bit smarter.”
White complemented the Sharks for the way they used their strike-runners, with the likes of Jordan Hendrikse, Lukhanyo Am, Ethan Hooker and Jurenzo Julius keeping the Bulls defence busy.
But the home side should’ve clinched the victory, and won’t be looking forward to Monday’s video session in dissecting the game.
“They’ve got like sevens rugby players at the back there, and once they made line-breaks, it was not like we could catch them,” White said.
“And generally, what’s happened against other teams is that we’ve had the pace to either scramble or catch them from behind.
“The one time we got put away, and Devon (Williams) got caught by Yaw Penxe from the side... That generally hasn’t happened.
“So, they scored long-range tries, and the reason for that is that they outpaced us. There is no substitute for speed ... That’s the frustrating thing, because once they got behind us on a line-break, we generally have been good enough to catch them from behind.
“But we didn’t do it today, so we’ve got to have a look and see how we are going to be able to stop teams from making line-breaks, and scoring against us.
“It’s (finishing) a concern ... of course it’s a concern. Just before halftime, we kicked it out three times into the corner there, and they turned the maul over at the end there again.
“It was the third maul in succession, and generally what happens is that you would think after three, you are going to put them away – and we didn’t, and we turned it over at the end there.
“They stopped our maul and we knocked it on. It was the same as the other one five metres from the line in the second half. Again, we had an opportunity there maybe three times, and we didn’t finish it off.
“It is a concern because when you play against these teams, they don’t give you freebies. If you get there, you’ve got to take that chance.”
Points-Scorers
Bulls 19 – Tries: Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar (2). Conversions: David Kriel (1), Boeta Chamberlain (1).
Sharks 29 – Tries: Ethan Hooker, Jordan Hendrikse, Tino Mavesere, Yaw Penxe. Conversions: Hendrikse (1), Siya Masuku (2). Penalty: Hendrikse (1).