Cape Town — Jake White believes that Friday’s 24-20 victory over the Sharks in Durban will be a “massive catalyst” for the Blue Bulls to play with greater confidence in the rest of the Currie Cup.
It was a close-run thing in the end, but beating the Sharks in the Currie Cup at Kings Park doesn’t happen too often for the Bulls — in fact, White mentioned that 2015 was the last time the Pretoria outfit managed that feat.
They built up a comfortable 19-3 lead at halftime through incisive running with ball-in-hand, a well-organised defence and three tries by wing Sibongile Novuka (two) and hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Novuka went on to claim his hat-trick in the second half to make it 24-13, and although the Sharks scored a late try through Zee Mkhabela to ensure an exciting finish, the Bulls did enough to pull off a bonus-point victory.
“I think it was difficult for all the players in the back-three (due to the strong wind), but we got a result. I thought we played really well at times, and you saw the opportunities that we created and didn’t finish — we could’ve comfortably won that game before the last play of the game,” White said afterwards.
“At 19-3, we got a breakaway and there was a pass from Nizaam Carr — and if that pass had gone to hand, we probably would’ve scored another long-range try… As it turned out, it was a knock-on from Morné (Steyn), and they scored from that scrum.
“It’s one of those difficult things: when you’re not winning, you start panicking. At that stage, if we had got that pass away and scored another try, it would have been 26-3 up and game over.
“But we conceded a try there and they were suddenly back in the game. Then they scored another try, and that made it difficult. Winning is a habit, and losing makes you start panicking when you’re in those situations.
“I have no doubt that after this game, this group of players will get a lot of confidence out of the way they played, and the fact that they got a result as well, will make it so much easier for us to go to training on Monday to prepare for our game next weekend.
“I have no doubt that this win will be a massive catalyst for the confidence in the group, and to get five points in Durban, I don’t think too many teams (do that). The last time we won a Currie Cup game here was in 2015, so it just puts things into perspective of what a special win that was.”
White was also delighted for hat-trick hero Novuka, who also impressed against Lyon in the Champions Cup a few months ago.
“I am very happy for him. Sometimes in coaching you get these success stories, and you get a guy who was not in a mainstream school, came through the Varsity Shield, and not only played well today – every time we’ve called on him…
“He played in the Champions Cup and played really well. So, I am happy for him and it’s great — success stories like that are also satisfying for me as a coach.”
The Blue Bulls are next in action in the Currie Cup against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld next Saturday (6.30pm kickoff), which forms part of a double header with the URC Bulls, who take on Leinster on the same day (4pm).
Points-Scorers
Sharks 20 – Tries: Phikolomzi Sobahle, Zee Mkhabela. Conversions: Fred Zeilinga (1), Lionel Cronjé (1). Penalties: Zeilinga (2).
Blue Bulls 24 – Tries: Sibongile Novuka (3), Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Conversions: Morné Steyn (2).
IOL Sport