Cape Town – The Bulls will “face the facts” if they somehow miss out on the Champions Cup playoffs after pinpointing poor discipline as the main cause of their 31-7 defeat at the hands of Lyon on Friday night.
The Pretoria side now have to wait for the results of three games on Saturday – Harlequins v Sharks (3pm SA time), Bordeaux v Gloucester (5.15pm) and Leinster v Racing 92 (5.15pm) – to see whether they will advance to the round of 16.
The Bulls are currently sixth in Pool A, with the top eight going through, with 10 points from four matches and a points difference of minus-37.
Lyon are seventh with eight points from four matches, but then Harlequins are eighth with seven points in three matches, with a points difference of minus-five.
Ninth-placed Racing 92 have five log points and a points difference of minus-35, and Gloucester are 10th on five log points and a points difference of minus-87.
So, it comes down to whether Gloucester can secure a bonus-point win over Bordeaux in France and with a winning margin of 51 points, which is highly unlikely.
The Bulls needed just a point from the Lyon match to qualify, but were blown away by a two-try blitz just before halftime that put the French club into a 24-0 lead at the break.
“Gloucester play away against Bordeaux, so it will come down to points difference – and we will know by (the end of Saturday) where we stand,” Bulls backline coach Chris Rossouw said during a press conference on Saturday.
“It’s highly unlikely that we don’t qualify, but it could happen. What happens will happen, and we need to face the facts.”
The Bulls had a number of chances to score points in the first half at a bitterly cold Stade Gerland, where the snow eventually started falling on the artificial pitch, but they were unable to finish off.
There were several knock-ons in contact, turnovers at the breakdowns and a retreating scrum that was heavily penalised by referee Wayne Barnes.
Bulls loosehead prop Simphiwe Matanzima was handed a yellow card following a team warning for repeated infringements, as a determined Lyon imposed themselves physically and played with a real intensity on attack and defence.
The visitors’ defence missed too many tackles – with flyhalf Johan Goosen’s attempt on Lyon scrumhalf Jean-Marc Doussain especially poor and resulting in a try – and the backline aligned too deep and battled to find their rhythm with ball-in-hand.
“It’s the first encounter in France, so they came across a French side that at home, is obviously completely different. You can use the conditions and the travel as an excuse, but it was extremely cold. The reality is that the conditions weren’t that bad in the end – it was very cold, and there was also snow that came down,” Rossouw said.
“But if you put that aside, we just conceded too many penalties that put us under pressure. That was sometimes down to little technical errors that we need to improve as a team – in the first half, it was 11 penalties, and five in the second.
“We came back very well in the second half, and I take my hat off to the guys. But in the beginning, we put ourselves under immense pressure, and that showed on the scoreboard.
“We all know that they’ve got a very heavy pack, extremely good backs. The way that we pulled back in the second half… Five minutes to go in the first half, we were 10-0 down after conceding an early try, and I thought we had a patch there where we played quite well.
“We couldn’t convert, and there we need to improve. And then in those five minutes before halftime, we conceded a lot of penalties that led to those scrum and maul tries.
“When we came out for the second half, we scored first-up, and then they scored right at the end – so basically, it was even-stevens in the second half. It just showed us that we could manage those conditions and stand our ground.”
Now the Bulls will travel to Wales to take on the Scarlets in the United Rugby Championship, and they will do so without Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie, who will return home to begin their Springbok rest period.
Arendse went off in the second half with a calf issue, but Rossouw didn’t think it was a serious injury.
Points-Scorers
Lyon 31 – Tries: Guillaume Marchand (2), Jean-Marc Doussain, Leo Berdeu. Conversions: Berdeu (4). Penalties: Berdeu (1).
Bulls 7 – Try: Kurt-Lee Arendse. Conversion: Johan Goosen (1).
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