Jake White upbeat for crunch Euro clash

Jake White said the Vodacom Bulls are in a good space for a key Champions Cup tie against Lyon on Saturday, while providing an update on the injured Marco van Staden.

The Rugby World Cup-winning Springbok loose forward injured his knee and was replaced in the first half of a heavy defeat by Leinster at the RDS Arena in the Vodacom URC last week.

Speaking to reporters yesterday in the countdown to the  last 16 clash at Loftus Versfeld, White explained that Van Staden’s injury isn’t as severe as feared and anticipates his return sooner than expected.

“We’re waiting for the MRI [scan] but the doctor doesn’t think it was as bad as initially expected,” the director of rugby was quoted by media. “I’ll wait for the MRI before I say anything else because I don’t want to tell you that and then the MRI finds something else.

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Reflecting on the Leinster result, White emphasised the learning curve for the Bulls, acknowledging the gap in experience compared to seasoned opponents.

“I just had a meeting with the players, and I think things need to be put in perspective, a lot of the guys asked me ‘what happened?’ after the game,” he said. “At 14-12 up I thought we’d played really well, then they brought on [Tadhg] Furlong, [Caelan] Doris, [Jamison] Gibson-Park, [Dan] Sheehan, the list just went on and on and on.

“It was a good measurement of where we are as a group. This tournament has been going on for three years, our very first game against them we lost 31-3, and if I look back three years ago, we’ve grown as a group and added quality players.”

He stressed the importance of training intensity and minimising errors against top-tier teams, and sees an opportunity on Saturday against Lyon for growth as well as place the Bulls among Europe’s elite.

“Part of my message to them [on Tuesday] was what we can control is we can train better, train harder, train with more intensity, make less mistakes because when you make mistakes against teams like Leinster you get punished. So, those are things we as a group can get right,” White explained.

“My wife asked me [recently] what EPCR stands for. It stands for European Professional Club Rugby, and if you’re in the top eight of the best rugby clubs in the world, then you know you’re in a good place, especially from where we started three years ago.”