Jake White has certainly not lost hope for his team’s chances of being crowned the first champion of the United Rugby Championship (URC) later this year – or, alternatively, to at least make the playoffs.

After his team earned nine league points in the past two weeks with consecutive victories in matches away and at home against their Gauteng neighbours, the Lions, the Bulls are now in twelfth place on the log in this international tournament.

The men from Pretoria continued their upward movement on the URC log with a hard-fought 21-13 win over their Gauteng rivals on Saturday in a match that failed to deliver on its promise in many aspects. Unfortunately, it was played in wet conditions.

The Loftus Versfeld faithful expected much of the same as last week, when the Bulls scored at will at Emirates Airline Park, but the Johannesburg side came to Loftus Versfeld far more willing for a fight. And scrap they did, conceding three tries in the match – two of those in the first half – with the Bulls leading 14-6 at the break.

The home side will lament the missed bonus point and spilled chances, especially in the first half where their backs fluffed a number of opportunities.

But White was very positive after the game. As before, he reiterated that there is still a lot of rugby to be played before the eight candidates for the quarter-finals will be determined by 21 May. And as things stand now, his team has only four points less on the log than Connacht, which is currently in eighth place

As the tournament’s program had to be changed due to Covid measures, the Bulls will complete their fifth derby obligation against South African teams this coming weekend at Loftus Versfeld against the Sharks.

After that, only one derby match against the Stormers remains, which will be played on April 9.

That means the Bulls will still have to play eight games against European teams, three of which will take place on their upcoming tour in February and March, while in the final week of the tournament on May 21 they will have to fly back to Wales to play against Ospreys.

White believes his players learned a lot from the first tour they had in Europe at the end of last year during the first phase of the tournament. He is convinced that this time they will do better and adapt to the difficult conditions in Europe.

The rest of Marcell Coetzee and his men’s matches will be played at Loftus Versfeld.

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