While the Bulls were thrilled to beat Saracens last week, one area they need to improve on is capitalising on more scoring opportunities in Saturday’s Champions Cup clash against Lyon.
It will be a chilly reception for the Pretoria outfit at the Stade Gerland, and that won’t only be due to the freezing winter weather that will hit them in the face as they run onto the 4G artificial pitch. Kick-off is at 7.30pm, SA time.
The Lyon supporters are very loud – as most French club fans are – and they will roar on their team in the hope that they will topple the Bulls once more, like they did to the tune of 31-7 in January.
But Jake White’s team can silence the vocal crowd by finishing off their chances in a much more ruthless manner than they did against Saracens last weekend.
They missed out on three tries through a combination of forward passes and stepping into touch – although they were a bit unfortunate as David Kriel’s pass to Kurt-Lee Arendse in one of those moves appeared to start off going backwards before drifting forward.
But ultimately, those ‘lost’ touchdowns cost them a vital fourtry bonus point as they ended with three tries in the 27-16 victory.
The Bulls won’t get so many chances on attack against Lyon, and with the likes of Arendse, Canan Moodie and Willie le Roux likely to sit out as White is set to rotate his squad, the rest of the backline will need to strike.
“I think it was an unbelievable performance from the guys. If you look at their team, they’ve got an international in every position, and off the bench as well,” scrumhalf Zak Burger said about the win over Saracens.
“We started off really well, and still felt like we didn’t take all our chances. They came back into the game towards the end, but it was a massive result against Saracens.
“I watched a bit of the Lions game (against Perpignan in France last weekend), and they took their chances and got a result.
“For us going over there, we will swap the warm December summer in Pretoria for a cold Lyon.
“But we must just make the best of our opportunities.
“There are some travel issues – maybe for the bigger guys and not the smaller guys – but that’s something we can’t control.
“We must make the best of the opportunity we have and recover better and then pitch up on Saturday.”
Burger has been in an ongoing battle with Springbok Embrose Papier for the No 9 jersey, and is set to get his chance to start against Lyon. But the competition just pushes both players to lift their games, and Burger will hope to remind White and Bulls fans about his talent tomorrow.
“It’s healthy competition within our squad. If you look at our squad this season, we’ve got very good depth in all the positions. At the moment, Embrose is playing unbelievable rugby, and I am happy for him. We are quite close and help each other where we can,” the 25-year-old halfback said.
“If I’m benching and he’s starting, and I see something in the first half, I will speak to him at half-time and contribute to the team wherever I can. There’s no bad love between us … we are very good mates.
“Over the last three weeks, we got massive results against Connacht, Sharks and Saracens. We are going to Lyon to get a result.
“It’s going to be hard, but we will fight until the end of the game, and hopefully we can get a very good result in France.
“Lyon have their internationals, and this Lyon team have a very big pack and quick backs, with strike runners in the centres.
“I’m just thinking of Thaakir Abrahams (former Sharks fullback), who is playing for Lyon now – he is a real hot stepper. Arno Botha has been at the Bulls and is very physical.
“Semi Radradra of Fiji plays at centre, so very exciting players and it’s going to be a very good challenge to go up against them in Lyon.
“They’ll definitely bring a physicality that us as South Africans have, and it will be a nice, physical encounter.”
IOL Sport