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The new Bulls coach was reluctant to speculate on past finals, but has "one or two ideas" about travel and squad integration.
New head coach Johan Ackermann has one or two ideas he would like to try at the Bulls. Picture: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
New Bulls coach Johan Ackermann said any number of factors could have been responsible for the Pretoria union narrowly missing out on claiming the United Rugby Championship trophy. However, he had a few ideas that may improve the team’s performance.
The Bulls have reached three URC finals in the past four years but have not been able to cross the line. They came closest when they hosted Glasgow Warriors in 2024. After leading 13–0 early on, they ultimately fell 21–16.
The Bulls lost 18–13 to the Stormers in Cape Town in 2022 and, most recently, were thrashed 32–7 by Leinster in Dublin last month.
It was after that Leinster defeat that then-boss Jake White said he simply could not beat Leinster with the players he had. Shortly afterwards, players and coaches allegedly expressed their discontent with the board, and White and the Bulls mutually agreed to part ways earlier this month.
Three times SA coach of the year, Ackermann was instated following stints at the Lions, Gloucester, Japan and with the SA U20s.
‘I can only be myself’
“It’s a big challenge. There’s no illusion of the massive task that lies ahead,” he told the media on Wednesday. “To take a team that has been performing, not just the last four years, but has been champions in Super Rugby before … that’s my task, to make sure that we get the team to perform as quickly as we can.
“I can only be myself and do the things that I believe in and hopefully that will be good enough to get the team to where they need to be.”
He said it was unfair to speculate what the missing link was for the Bulls, also joking that he did not have a great track record in finals either, with the Lions missing out in two Super Rugby finals (2016 and 2017) and Gloucester losing the Challenge Cup final in 2018.
“That [missing] 1% is a difficult thing because it is as much as one referee’s decision, as much as one pass. The Springboks have won a World Cup with three one-pointers. It could have gone either way and if they didn’t win it, everybody would have asked what that one missing link was.”
He said the travel, a small aspect in tactics or preparation for a game, could also affect the result.
For example, Ackermann wondered what would have happened if Springbok loose forward Kwagga Smith hadn’t received a red card in the 2017 Super Rugby final, which the Lions lost 25–17 to the Crusaders.
“That’s one incident almost taking the whole season apart because you didn’t win the trophy. So it will be difficult for me to say what that 1% will be.”
Ackermann looks to the controllables at the Bulls
The Bulls coach said he couldn’t control the past, but one way he could give the Bulls the best chance of success would be to tick boxes in strategy and preparation, and ensure all players are in a good place enjoying their rugby.
“Getting them to know why they are playing, what they are representing. Giving ourselves a chance to make sure we get enough wins to get into the play-off games. Then it’s the small things that we make sure we tick.”
He said he had “one or two ideas” about travel, and integrating URC players into the Currie Cup squad before the bigger European tournaments kick off, that may work. But he would discuss them first with CEO Edgar Rathbone and president Willem Strauss.
