Bulls Struggle in URC Quarterfinal Loss to Stormers
Key Highlights :
The Bulls put up a valiant effort in their United Rugby Championship (URC) quarterfinal clash against the Stormers at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday afternoon, but it wasn't enough as they went down 33-21 to the defending champions. Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White was humble in defeat after the match, praising the Stormers for their performance and his team for their fighting spirit.
The Stormers were always favourites going into the knockout match, but the Bulls would have had hope after playing some of their best rugby of the URC campaign over the final two rounds of the pool phase. However, it was another superb performance from the Cape Town side that firmly kept their stranglehold over the Bulls in the URC, with this their sixth straight win over their Northern rivals in the competition.
The Bulls showed some fighting spirit, as they went into the halftime break just 10 points down despite having been dominated for most of the first half, and put in a decent second half showing to never let the Stormers get out of sight. “Three tries and 21 points, with the amount of ball and territory we had, I’ve got to be proud of the way that the players stuck to it,” said White. “The way they fought in the game. As coaches, you always measure those sorts of things because we could’ve quite easily just laid down and died and got given a 30 or 40-point drubbing.”
Unfortunately for the Bulls, they had to contend with losing two of their stars, Springbok wing Canan Moodie before the match after he failed a late fitness test, and utility back Johan Goosen to a head knock early in the second half. “To lose Canan and then Goosen, those are two Springboks who have X-factor. We are probably not in the fortunate situation like other teams to have as many (star players) as the other franchises with those kinds of players at our disposal,” said White.
The Bulls put up a valiant effort in their URC quarterfinal clash against the Stormers, but it wasn't enough as they went down 33-21 in the end. Despite the loss, Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White was proud of his team's fighting spirit and praised the Stormers for their performance. The Bulls had to contend with losing two of their stars, Springbok wing Canan Moodie before the match and Johan Goosen to a head knock, but they still put in a decent showing in the face of adversity.
