Bulls coach Jake White hopes his side will be more ruthless in their upcoming United Rugby Championship matches.
Contentious refereeing decisions aside, which saw Bulls and Springbok hooker Johan Grobbelaar sent off in their side’s 23-22 loss to Scarlets over the weekend, White hopes his charges will not take their foot of the gas once they gain an ascendancy in future.
Lending credence to White’s theory, is the 19-7 lead after half an hour the Bulls had built against Scarlets in Wales over the weekend, before ultimately losing their grip on the contest.
While he was careful about his wording, White did concede his side did have a problem.
We’ve got our hands on their throat’
“Concern is not a word I’d use, but it’s a trend (of falling off in the second half) that we have to try and change,” said White.
“It’s catching us because we start well and put teams under the pump, but when we’ve got our hands on their throat, we let them get out. But it’s all about learning and growing. In the last four years, no team have been unbeaten in this competition.
“So, it just shows you how tough it actually is to win week-in and week-out.”
It doesn’t get any easier for the Bulls though, as they will be up against Italian outfit Benetton on Friday.
“Now we are going to need to play well against Benetton – not because we didn’t want to, but now it’s a question of being a little bit more desperate, a bit more clinical and understanding where we got it wrong.”