‘It’s now the business end of the competition’: Bulls throw everything against Cardiff

Bulls director of rugby Jake White said he has picked his best side and they are working towards a perfect 80-minute performance when they take on Cardiff in their United Rugby Championship match at Loftus on Saturday (kick-off 4pm).

He said while the Welsh side have had mixed results of late, the Bulls wish to “control their destiny” by putting themselves in the best position to secure a home semi-final. This will mean overtaking Glasgow Warriors in second place on the URC log.

Glasgow are only one point ahead of the Bulls and have tough away fixtures against Benetton and tournament leaders Leinster.

Bulls aim for their best

“Cardiff cannot be underestimated,” the Bulls coach said. “They’ve beaten Munster and Ulster this season. And anyone who has beaten Munster, you know you need to play well against them. We know because we had to do it.”

White said they wouldn’t “for one second” expect an easy match against the fifth-placed side. He alluded to their coach, Matt Sherratt, who is also coaching the Wales national side on an interim basis, as a resourceful opponent.

“They are not an easy team to play against. They have lots of good players, lots of internationals. We won’t take them lightly.”

Also, looking at themselves, the Bulls want to produce their best rugby at this stage of the season.

“There are lots of things we want to achieve. The home semi-final means we need results in both our home games [against Cardiff and then Dragons next week]. We won’t think it’s an easy game or not rock up.

“It’s now the business end of the competition. We’ve done a lot of hard yards to put ourselves in this position. I want a perfect performance but I want that in the last three weeks [play-offs].”

He said all teams are aiming for home play-offs with the “luxuries of home comfort and preparation”.