Jake White celebrates Bulls’ semi-final victory over Sharks and calls for better scrum rewards

“We made it hard for ourselves, but that victory was very nice.”

Bulls’ director of rugby, Jake White, was an elated coach after his side triumphed over the Sharks on Saturday evening at Loftus Versfeld to progress to the final of the United Rugby Championship (URC).

They will face Leinster at Croke Park in Dublin on Saturday where the Bulls will look to seal a first-ever URC title in their third final. The 25-13 win over the Sharks saw them claim a consecutive finals berth.

“I think we won that game in the five minutes before halftime when we had 12 men on the field,” White said after the match.

The Bulls received three yellow cards and had to defend with 12 men in the dying moments of the first forty to repel the attacks of the visitors. They managed to do that and took a healthy 15-3 lead into halftime.

“It was a bit of déjà vu because we played them here and got them down to 12 men and we could not open them up. It is obviously a massive win for us as a club, and we are into another final. So, that is three finals in four years, and any club would tell you that is a massive achievement.

“In that five minutes before halftime with 12 men, it did not look like they were going to score and that is a massive boost to the defence coach and players. I told them in the changeroom that is where we won it. Sometimes you think you win a game with a last-minute kick.

“However, it is not that, it is what you do at certain times (in the game) and we were 12 out of 10 with the way we showed attitude. I say it confidently. I sat there thinking they are not going to score here because we were really fronting up there.”

White said there was a different vibe in the changeroom after they kept the Sharks out and he knows it could’ve been otherwise if they had let their opponents over the line for a try.

He added that the atmosphere in the stadium added to their game, and he knows they made the Loftus crowd proud with their performance.

White praised the efforts of scrumhalf Embrose Papier, who had a direct hand in two of the three tries, but at the same time said it’s thanks to the forwards’ dominance that the scrumhalf could play his natural game. The Bulls ruled the scrums in the opening exchanges, and their coach feels they could’ve received more rewards at times.

“We weren’t rewarded early on for smashing them in the scrums. We could’ve been rewarded a little more. Thank goodness they were offside with that intercept try. For me, we could’ve gotten a penalty.

“I know the referee will say they didn’t do anything illegal, and the scrum was running backwards. I have seen many games where the scrum runs backwards, and it is a penalty.

“I thought we could’ve received more love at scrum time. We didn’t get love at the scrum but we still ended up winning the game.”