Cape Town - Perhaps for the first time since he arrived at Loftus Versfeld in 2020, Jake White has admitted that he is feeling the pressure.
Six defeats in a row across all competitions can do that to you, but what has left White a bit puzzled at the moment is that this is the same squad of players that won multiple titles in the Super Rugby Unlocked and Currie Cup competitions, and reached the final of the United Rugby Championship.
And to add insult to injury, their last three losses – to the Lions in the URC (29-25) and Pumas (63-15) and Western Province on Friday night (41-33) – have all come at Loftus Versfeld.
To be fair, though, they have lost some crucial figures from their past success, such as captain Marcell Coetzee (who is on a sabbatical in Japan and is set to return to the Bulls in May), wing Madosh Tambwe, lock Walt Steenkamp and loose forward Arno Botha.
Star flyhalf Johan Goosen hasn’t found his feet this season either and is currently injured, while two current Springboks in Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie have missed large chunks of the campaign as well.
“It’s definitely not who we want to be; it’s not what we coach. But for the first time as a group, and everyone included, we’re probably a little bit under pressure. It’s a different pressure to what we did experience as a group (previously),” White said as he fronted up to the media alongside Currie Cup head coach Edgar Marutlulle following the WP game.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we get through this. It doesn’t mean it can change in one week, but we are going to have to get through this as a group, as a union.
“I’d like to become philosophical to myself about it. I’m the guy in charge. I’ve got to make decisions, and most of the decisions in the last couple of years have worked in our favour.
“Maybe me being sick (and sidelined for six weeks recently) – and again, I’m not blaming it – but maybe I just lost a little bit of (contact). Maybe if I had been with the team the whole time, I might have changed my mind and said, ‘Forget it, let’s play the strongest team every week, and see whether we can vasbyt’.
“But there is a longer-term picture for me. I’m trying to develop a team that doesn’t go from one year (at the top to the bottom the next year).
“You lose Marcell Coetzee, you lose Walt Steenkamp, you lose Arno Botha, you lose Madosh Tambwe… we didn’t have Canan and Kurt-Lee today.
“And I know the other teams don’t have that, but maybe the significant losses we have in terms of our personnel have had a much bigger impact to our group of players.
“I’m trying to work out in my head how can you go from being so dominant and so good, and so brave to play, into, at times, looking like they are incohesive, something’s missing?
“I’ve just got to try and find out what it is that we’re missing, and part of my job is to make sure that we try and get it right.”
It’s not going to get any easier for the Bulls, as they will travel up north this week for Saturday’s URC clash against Duane Vermeulen’s Ulster (9.35pm SA time kick-off) in Belfast.
The Pretoria side are sixth on the log and need to get something out of the game to remain in play-off contention.
Then it’s onto France and the Champions Cup round of 16 knockout against Toulouse, but White is not about to throw in the towel just yet.
“There will always be those guys (critics), and we have supporters who want to win, and we want to make them proud as well. But sometimes, we also have to be man enough to admit that decisions we made – and I am the guy who made those decisions – they either worked or haven’t,” the former Bok mentor said.
“The only way we are going to find out is when we get to the end of all the campaigns – Currie Cup, URC and Champions Cup – and sit back and say what did we do wrong? If there were things that I did wrong, we’ll have to improve them.
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“The changes they’ve (WP) have made have worked. The depth and kind of personnel they’re using have worked. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong.
“It’s not over yet. We’ve still got Ulster, Zebre and Leinster (in the URC), and we’ve got to try to get results there to get into the play-offs.
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“We’ve got a massive game against Toulouse, historically the strongest Champions Cup team that have ever played as a club.
“There will be a lot of learning that will happen, winning or losing. I am just very lucky that I have people above me and around me that understand that sport works like that.”
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