Struggling Bulls need to go back to basics, says Ackermann

By George Byron

If the Bulls want to end a three-game losing streak, they must pull themselves together and stop leaking tries when they face Northampton in the Champions Cup on Sunday, says coach Johan Ackermann.

The latest setback to hit Ackermann’s beleaguered team came when they surrendered a 33-22 halftime lead to lose 46-33 against Union Bourdeaux-Beagles at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday

It was the Bulls’ third consecutive defeat, after United Rugby Championship (URC) losses to Glasgow and the Lions, which has left Ackermann searching for answers in a bid to get his team back on the winning track.

“We look so good at moments and then we look average,” Ackermann said.

“The Bulls need to pull ourselves together and ask ourselves how we can improve rather than point fingers.

It must be frustrating for people on the outside because it’s frustrating for us.

—  Johan Ackermann

“If you can score tries but keep leaking tries you’re not going to win. That’s the frustrating part. The inconsistency in all our areas is challenging at the moment.

“We let it slip through our fingers because of a lack of discipline and individual errors. Our defence must sharpen up. There’s a lot of hard work ahead.

“Sometimes it is an individual mistake and sometimes it is a system mistake. There are quality players making mistakes. And that’s the thing. You saw in the past they didn’t make those mistakes.

“It must be frustrating for people on the outside because it’s frustrating for us. The team needs to go back to basics to improve their game, said Ackermann.

“Like losing a kickoff, or we knock a ball, or we know they will come at the breakdown but we don’t secure it, and then they get a turnover. Those small things have a high cost. Last week it happened against the Lions and this week it happened again.

“On the one hand, we had a good offload from Harold Vorster to Reinhardt Ludwig and we scored a brilliant try.

“Then Embrose Papier tries to get the ball away to Canan Moodie, and he is about to catch it but it is snapped up by Bordeaux scrumhalf Maxime Luca and they go all the way to the other end of the field and score.

“That’s the frustrating part. We are there and then not there.”

Two second-half yellow cards proved costly for the Bulls.

The match was intense from the outset, with both teams throwing everything at one another and it showed in a frantic first half in which a total of eight tries were scored — five by the Bulls and three by Bordeaux.

The Frenchmen struck first, scoring two tries in the opening 10 minutes to one by Sebastian de Klerk for a 12-7 lead and both teams continued to show their try-scoring prowess as the half progressed.

Reinhardt Ludwig, Akker van der Merwe, Canan Moodie and Jeandre Rudolph put their names on the scoresheet for the hosts, while the visitors added only one more try and a penalty goal in the half.

However, a combination of ill-discipline and lapses on defence at crucial times for the hosts was their downfall in the second half as David Kriel and Handré Pollard were sent to the sin bin within 10 minutes forcing the Bulls to play for 20 minutes with 14 men.