White admits end of the road in Champions Cup

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VIDEO: Jake White, the Bulls' Director of Rugby, believes it is the end of the road for his side in the Champions Cup.

The Bulls suffered a humiliating 10-49 thumping at the hands of Castres in France on Saturday evening.

Castres showcased a second-half scoring surge led by Rémy Baget, who ran in three tries en route to victory.

Many pundits predicted the Bulls would struggle, especially considering the young, inexperienced side White opted to take to France.

That combined with ill-discipline and set-piece woes resulted in the French scoring six tries to the Bulls' one.

White was straightforward in his assessment of the game, saying his side's run in the Champions Cup has most likely come to an end.

The Bulls are one of four teams who have not managed to win a single game in the European competition and are last in Pool 3.  The other teams are Ulster, Exeter and Bristol.

"I think it is done because we've got no points and every other team has points," White said during the post-match interview on Saturday evening.

The Bulls host Stade Francais at Loftus on Saturday and according to White, it is their only hope of getting any points out of their campaign. The French side has won one game and is one position above the Bulls at five points.

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"It is only Stade Francais that is an option. We can't catch Castres even if we beat them. So I think the Champions Cup is over for us.

"It is one thing about the campaign and Champions Cup. You've seen it with all the teams when you get it wrong.

"Stade Francais beat Northampton and they are second last in the Top 14 and they beat the team that won the Premiership last year.

"It just highlights how difficult it is to advance in this competition.

"What we are going to do is worry about our performance in the next week and make sure we get momentum going into the URC," he explained.

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According to the coach, his players were off for three weeks over the Christmas period and felt whichever team he picked for the Castes clash, would have struggled.

"This team hasn't played. We were off for three weeks. Whoever I brought was going to be three weeks shy of a game.

"Castres played last weekend in the Top 14.

"are never going to play through Christmas, it is the way it is.

"Whatever team I brought would probably still have struggled to find the rhythm," White stated.

The Bulls got on the scoreboard in the sixth minute after a good start from the kick-off through Jan-Hendrik Wessels, but that would prove to be their only try in the game.

"I was really happy with the way we started. For a team that hasn't played together been off for three weeks and basically been on holiday, the way we played in the first 30-40 minutes was good.

"I just don't think we have the firepower to put them away. The difference was they showed they had the firepower all over the field.

"We stayed in the fight for as long as we could, but as soon as they got ascendancy, they ran away with it.

"We were chasing four tries to get a point out of that game and we were playing lots of rugby and we were trying to score as many tries as we could.

"But we probably shot ourselves in the foot, because as soon as we turned it over, they went and scored the other side," he concluded.

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