Bulls president Willem Strauss described the team's loss against Ulster as "arguably our worst performance since joining the URC".
Bulls coach Johan Ackermann said his side is having a hard look at their defence after conceding 14 tries (and 99 points in total) over their first three United Rugby Championship matches to elicit scathing criticism from their union’s president.
While the Bulls won their first two matches at home (53-40 against Ospreys and 39-31 against Leinster), Ackermann said it was during their first loss of the season, away against Ulster on the weekend (28-7), that his defence had shaped the best.
Still, Bulls president Willem Strauss described the game on a broadcast group message as “arguably our worst performance since joining the URC”.
“Terrible effort. Not interested and disconnected. We’ve now conceded 14 tries in just three games. We need urgency and intensity asap,” Strauss said.
For a proud Pretoria union that reached three finals in four years, this is significant.
‘Families fight’
Still, Ackermann told the media that his response to the situation was to remind the players that families fight.
“I’m not going to comment [on that]. There are a lot of people who have comments. As long as everybody is doing his job as well as he can …
“I said to the players that the reality is families go through tough times. Show me one family that is perfect, that doesn’t fight, or one marriage or relationship. And we are in a relationship between players, staff etc. We are in this together. There is no hiding, there is no easy way out.”
He said no one at the Bulls tries to lose or enjoys losing. All they can do is take responsibility and fix what they got wrong.
Bulls focus on defence ahead of crunch matches
“Ultimately, it’s tackle dominance. There are too many times where someone has to cover for someone else, then it’s a ripple effect,” the coach said.
“There are a lot of factors I can hide behind because our preparation wasn’t great. We didn’t have numbers, injuries etc. Maybe we were undercooked from a contact point of view and now you try to play catch-up during the season… We need to fix it and we have to fix it quickly if we want to concede fewer points.”
He said the loss against Ulster hurt especially because of the opposition’s four tries, three came during a Bulls yellow card, and they only had to work hard for one of them (a cross-kick).
Ackermann said Ulser’s tries from a kick-through, pick-and-go and a maul were too easy.
“Defence does win you games. They defended us during big periods in the first half.
“We are going to constantly work on that and make sure that from us as coaches to players, we take responsibility to improve that area.”
The Bulls take on Connacht in Ireland on Friday, and Glasgow in Scotland the following week, before returning home for the Lions.
