White happy with URC progress after Bulls' successive wins over Lions

As the United Rugby Championship (URC) gains momentum, Bulls coach Jake White says their destiny is in their own hands to make it to the knockout stages.

The Bulls have recorded two successive victories against the Lions over the past two weekends to improve their position on the log standings after a poor start to the tournament.

The Bulls beat the Lions 21-13 at Loftus on Saturday through tries from Marcel Coetzee, Johan Grobbelaar and Kurt-Lee Arendse while their visitors registered their only touch down from the effort of Ruben Schoeman.

“I said to the players that I am never going to get arrogant. Getting nine points from the Lions in two weeks is good considering where we were a few weeks ago,” said White after the match.

“You remember two weeks ago when we were coming into the change room, we had to find a way to jump up the log. We mustn’t get ahead of ourselves because we had enough chances and we didn’t score.

“Canan Moodie in the end there kicked the ball out. But shame he is only a 19-year-old guy and when I asked him 'Why did you kick it out?' he said: 'I felt like I was being isolated.'

“It was the right answer but he was on his own there. It isn’t ideal because I would have liked to have got the bonus point, especially not because it is the Lions but because we had set it out nicely to get a bonus point.

“I am not going to get too hard on the guys, nine points in two weeks and we have jumped up the ladder.”

Lions captain Jaco Kriel bemoaned the fact that they conceded three more tries to the Bulls.

“We spoke about defence for the whole week but we are still letting ourselves down, if we fix that it will be a whole different story. We really felt that we gave ourselves enough opportunities to convert pressure into points which we didn’t score.”

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said they lost because they did not take care of small but important moments.

“There are a couple of players who are very young and inexperienced in this team and they will continue learning. The other thing is about the small moments and sticking to the system.

“I spoke to Jake White after the match and I said to him that for the first 10 to 20 minutes of the game we put pressure on them. That says a lot about the group, if we managed anther two penalties the pressure could have been more on them.”

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