Africa-Press – South-Africa. Bulls director of rugby Jake White says he is contemplating playing some of his United Rugby Championship stars in the Currie Cup during the three weeks before they face Ospreys.
The Bulls made heavy labour of beating Glasgow at Loftus on Friday night, their last round-robin home game, before they travel to Swansea for their 20 May date.
White’s outfit is chasing a playoff spot and is in with a slight chance of a home playoff place after spending the night in the top four.
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However, the Stormers, Sharks, and Ulster can all surpass the Bulls on the standings if they win their Saturday matches against Leinster, Connacht and Edinburgh, respectively.
The Bulls used the midweek Currie Cup games to keep some stars fresh despite having to play on the weekend as well. White hinted that they might pick URC-strength Currie Cup squads again.
“We probably learnt that when we played Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, we were quite good,” said White.
“I’m not saying we want to keep playing like that, but if I compare, we looked a bit flat last week against Benetton because we had two weeks off.
“I think it’s going to be about management in terms of keeping the squad hungry and fresh but also limiting the time for some guys, like on the bench.
“Like tonight, Harold Vorster didn’t have to do much. We didn’t need to use him because Cornal and Lionel played quite well but maybe next week we might give Harold a go.
“I’ll have to look at the combinations and see who’s available. Five guys are going to the alignment camp and that disrupts the preparation as well.”
The Bulls got an important bonus-point win over Glasgow in front of over 7 000 fans at Loftus.
They weren’t fluid by any stretch, however, showed good professionalism to get the job done.
White, though, is worried about his team’s late-game drop-off, which could have led to two late Ollie Smith tries for Glasgow but one was disallowed for a forward pass in the build-up.
“We didn’t play well – even though that doesn’t sound right. We played well at times and we probably showed a little naivety in-game management,” White surmised.
“Last week, we were 31-21 up (against Benetton) and it was almost like we wanted to show the crowd we could play and we let the team back in again. Tonight (Friday), we did the same.
“We wrestled them and when I thought we’d done enough, suddenly we started going into a different style.
“We’ve got to be careful because, when you play good sides like Glasgow, it can come back to bite you.”
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