Bulls coach Johan Ackermann said the Bulls need to bounce back against Connacht after "falling flat" against Ulster.
Coach Johan Ackkermann said the Bulls have to be at their best for the full 80 minutes when they face Connacht in Galway for the fourth round of the United Rugby Championship on Friday night.
The teams clash at 8.45pm with the Pretoria union sitting sixth on the log after dropping from pole position due to their 28-7 drubbing by Ulster in Belfast last week.
Bulls president Willem Strauss described the game in a broadcast group message as “arguably our worst performance since joining the URC”, and Ackermann made 11 changes to his starting XV, including a new captain, and six to the bench for Connacht.
The Bulls have lost their last two away games and have not suffered three consecutive away defeats since October 2023.
Bulls 3-1 against Connacht
Historically, the two sides have clashed four times, with the Bulls holding the upper hand in three wins. Their only loss was a 34-7 defeat in Galway in 2021, adding greater significance to this encounter as they seek to regain momentum.
Reinhardt Ludwig will lead the team in what will be just his second appearance in the past six months. He battled a herniated disc on two levels, which kept him out since April but said he feels very good, with no pain, and is excited to play again.
The 23-year-old utility forward spoke of the “massive challenge” that awaited at Dexcom Stadium, anticipating a physical encounter for the forwards.
Connacht come off a narrow away loss to Cardiff and sit ninth on the table, having earlier beaten Benetton while their game against the Scarlets was postponed.
Ackermann said the Bulls cannot afford to drop their intensity against the side dotted with Irish internationals.
They did so to their peril against Ulster, conceding three easy tries while No 8 Jeandré Rudolph was in the sin bin. It took the score from 7-7 to 28-7 in those 10 minutes.
Bulls need to weather momentum swings – coach
“That is the challenge for us. Any game is going to have momentum swings. You seldom have 80 minutes where all the momentum is with you,” the coach said.
“It’s how you deal with that, that’s the part we must understand. If you make back-to-back mistakes any good team will score.”
He said the Bulls needed to retain discipline and mental fortitude when things are not going their way, instead of “falling flat” as they did against Ulster.
“We are looking hard at ourselves so we don’t have moments of massive drop in intensity.”
Ackermann said the Bulls were still some way from clicking, as shown by the 14 tries and 99 points they conceded in their first three matches.
But it is his first year at the helm in Pretoria, and attaining the success that saw the Bulls reach three finals in four years – and surpassing that feat – will take time.
