Jake: We missed our leaders

21/04/2024 06:15

Jake White applauded the fight but rued the lack of composure from a 14-man Vodacom Bulls side in Saturday's defeat to an experienced Munster outfit at Loftus Versfeld.

Flyhalf Johan Goosen was sent off in the second half of a thrilling clash in Pretoria, as Munster veteran Conor Murray’s try six minutes from time clinched a 27-22 victory for the Vodacom URC champions to overtake the Bulls into third spot on the overall standings.

The teams were separated by two points before kick-off and while the hosts dominated early possession they could make little headway against a well-organised Munster defence.

Goosen saw red following head-on-head contact with Craig Casey and the visitors immediately made their one-man advantage count, Jack Crowley’s cross-kick finding John Hodnett to level matters at 22-22 before Murray’s late clincher.

Speaking post-match at Loftus, White acknowledged the quality performance from Munster and highlighted how their gamesmanship went unchecked in the absence of injured Bulls co-captains Marcell Coetzee and Ruan Nortje.

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"You don't ever want to lose at home and I told the players we're better than that. We didn't play particularly well in the first half… the first 18 minutes in the second half is the way we wanted to play, and then we got a red card," he told reporters.

"I can still say we were in the game until the last play of the game with 14 men, which says a lot for the fighting spirit that they showed. And take nothing away from Munster, they won the competition last year and beat the Stormers in Cape Town. They are a quality team.

"They've got experience. You've got the captain of Ireland [Peter O’Mahony] playing there, you've RG Snyman – he's won two World Cups – in their forward pack, and then you look at a guy like Conor Murray who's played for the British and Irish Lions more than once.

"It's part of the growth of our squad; you take out Marcell, Marco [van Staden] and Ruan Nortje, and all of a sudden we look a little bit young in terms of game feel and experience.

"And that's what they've got; they're very composed. At one stage we were 10-7 up and it didn't look like they were panicking, and before you knew it we were 17-10 down."

"I don’t know if you guys could hear but he [referee Adam Jones] was giving them [Munster] the gears for shouting at him, so obviously that was one of their tactics… a medic on the field all the time, every time, and again that's part of their tactics as well," the director of rugby added.

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"But that's when you miss the calibre of two captains in play. You miss that calm head in those pressure situations, and I needed one of the guys who's been around to go to the ref and go, 'you know, what do you think?' Because that's what really good and experienced captains do."

The Bulls will refocus for a visit from Ospreys next Saturday, and White remains optimistic about their chances of clinching a home semi-final.

"We'll regroup on Monday, and we are still alive in the competition, guys. It's got to hurt when we lose, and it's got to be something that we motivate ourselves for at training," he said.

"The first priority is to get to the back end of the competition when you have knockout rugby, and that's different."

Photo: Shaun Roy/Sportsfile via Getty Images

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