By Lucky Vince Pienaar
There were many disgruntled fans at Northampton when the Bulls played Saints on Saturday, complaining that the Bulls didn’t take the match seriously.
The match, a quarter-final knock-out match in the Champions Cup, saw Jake White fielding a team with no fewer than 15 changes from last week. Everybody, except Jake himself, agrees that it was not nearly the best team the men from Pretoria could have fielded.
Did Jake decide that the Bulls couldn’t win the match anyway? It’s hard to deny that he has saved his top players for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship this coming weekend against Munster in Pretoria, but then he has always insisted that nobody can play a decent game if they’ve travelled halfway around the world.
Speaking to Planet Rugby’s James While after the match, he said he was disappointed with the way the team performed, although his petticoat did stick out badly a few times.
“I wasn’t happy with the way we played in that first period, but it was nice to be in the game when the halftime whistle went,” he said.
What does that mean, Jake? You didn’t expect them to be in the match at halftime?
“I’m loving the fact that we get exposed to this and I’m loving that these players can learn what they learned tonight,” he said.
Are they youngsters who are learning, or are they on the field to compete?
Whatever Jake says, the truth is, Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Willie le Roux and a bunch of other heavyweights are in Pretoria while the youngsters were getting their backsides whipped to the tune of nine tries to three!
Northampton Saints (9 tries) 59-22 (3 tries) Vodacom Bulls
Tries Bulls: Cameron Hanekom, Akker van der Merwe, Sebastian de Klerk
➤ The final score doesn’t show how dominant the Sharks were in their match against Edinburgh in Durban on Saturday.
They were totally in charge until Eben Etzebeth got a yellow card before halftime, with Pierre Schoeman scoring during that time.
With ten minutes to go the Sharks took their foot off the pedal, allowing Edinburgh to score two tries that made the score look more respectable.
Man of the match Siya Masuku is proving to be the flyhalf the team has needed for a very long time. For a wing, Makazole Mapimpi sure gets around the field. He was everywhere.
Hollywoodbets Sharks (3 tries) 36-30 (3 tries) Edinburgh
Sharks tries: Lukhanyo Am, James Venter, Bongi Mbonambi
Pictured above: Jake White.
Image source: Vodacom Bulls
