Ruan Nortjé has identified two key areas in which the Vodacom Bulls must improve ahead of Friday night’s URC clash against Cardiff at Loftus. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.
The Bulls are coming off a 32-19 defeat to the Stormers in Pretoria last Saturday that ended their three-match winning run in the competition.
Despite remaining eighth on the log, the final playoff place, coach Johan Ackermann’s men are under pressure with six rounds of the regular season remaining. They are level on points with ninth-placed Connacht and ahead only on points difference, while the 10th-placed Ospreys are just a point behind, making home matches against Cardiff (fifth) and Munster (sixth) over the next two weekends crucial.
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“I just think they were much more clinical than we were,” Nortjé said on Tuesday when asked what went wrong against the Stormers. “In that first 20 minutes, we had opportunity after opportunity and just couldn’t execute. Whenever they got their chances, they nailed them.
“They also got one over us in the kicking game – they were brilliant there. In the scraps, they won it probably 80% of the time, and in today’s game that’s a big part of it.”
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The lineout, traditionally a Bulls strength, also misfired as they lost three of 13 throws.
“As we said in our review, our standards weren’t good enough. Our quality in the jumping, lifting and throwing just wasn’t on par,” Nortjé said.
“We as players have to take that on ourselves – our preparation, our standards, our fundamentals. We know we have to be much better.”
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Nortjé said those shortcomings would be targeted by a Cardiff side sitting comfortably in the top six.
“If our set-piece is going well, we can be dangerous, so teams will always try to put us under pressure there. It’s up to us to prepare as well as we can and make sure we’re spot-on this weekend.”
Cardiff’s kicking game presents another major threat.
“We know they’re one of the teams that kick the most in the competition, so that’s going to be a massive battle for us,” Nortjé said. “We know we can be much better than we were last week, so that’s definitely going to be a big focus.”
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The Bulls are set to be without utility back Sebastian de Klerk (foot injury) and centre Harold Vorster (concussion), and could also be missing scrumhalf Embrose Papier, who was a late withdrawal before the Stormers match due to the birth of his first child.
“We know Embrose is a great player for us and very important, with a lot of experience,” Nortjé said.
“But he’s got more important duties now and we’re very happy for him. We’re just happy he has a healthy child.
“We’ll see during the week if he’ll be available again.”
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