Johan Ackermann reflected on a season of highs and lows, looking forward to what he will build on next season .
Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann pictured before his team’s URC final against Leisnter at Croke Park. Picture: Ramsey Cardy/Gallo Images
Johan Ackermann said he had learned a great deal during his first season in charge of the Bulls and will work to build on the culture he has established there next season.
Coming from his Junior Springbok consultancy role, and before that coaching in Japan and at Gloucester in England since his glory days at the Lions, Ackermann took a different approach to that of his predecessor, Jake White.
While White fell out of favour after being heavy-handed and openly saying his team were not good enough after their URC final defeat to Leinster last season, Ackermann told players from the start they would be heard, though they had to earn their place in the team.
When his turn came to face Leinster in the final at the same venue, he said in no uncertain terms that they were strong enough to win.
They didn’t win. In fact, they lost by a greater margin than before.
Bulls overcome tough season
It hadn’t been a perfect season. After a decent start, the Bulls lost seven matches in a row – one that Bulls president Willem Strauss described as “arguably our worst performance since joining the URC”.
Ackermann axed assistant coaches Andries Bekker and Chris Rossouw, whom he had initially retained from White, and then recruited new attack coach Neil de Bruin. The team also received input from Springbok assistant coaches at the time.
The Bulls, who had all the while bought into Ackermann’s value-driven culture, found their feet with an away win over Pau in the Champions Cup.
By the end of the season, they had moved from the middle of the URC table to finish fourth, thrashed Munster in their quarter-final, and fought back from 21-3 down to beat Glasgow Warriors away in their semi-final.
They entered the Leinster final on an eight-game winning streak with plenty of belief, before they let themselves down again.
“We didn’t actually give ourselves a chance,” Ackermann said afterwards.
But while he and players were heartbroken, he said they were grateful for what they had achieved as a team, and how they had grown as people over the season.
‘A tremendous season’
“It was a tremendous season. I’ll never forget the fight that the guys showed.”
He said coaching in the URC was a “big learning curve” with the demands of travel much greater than they were when he was at Gloucester.
“I think we travelled, about 11 or 14 times… And then you’ve got the long, challenging campaign where all the teams are very good.
“I had to build new relationships with people on and off the field and staff. And they had to get used to how I deal with certain things and implement a certain playing style.”
He said that despite the challenges and change of coaches, the team bonded and grew in the direction he wanted.
“I’m so pleased and proud of the players for embracing everything we wanted to do. How they bought into the culture and values.
“It was a great first season. I think the only thing is we probably wanted to put up a better fight in this final, but If you asked me in January, where we were and where we are, I still feel there was a lot of progress.”
He also thanked fans for backing the team throughout.
