Jakes fumes over Bulls finishing

Yesterday at 10:43 AM

A frustrated Jake White rued the missed chances from the Vodacom Bulls in Saturday's Investec Champions Cup round 2 defeat to the Northampton Saints at Loftus Versfeld.

Northampton pulled off a bonus-point victory to 30-21 win in Pretoria. The Bulls dominated possession and territory, with 70 percent of the match being played in their opponents' half, and also had two tries ruled out following TMO intervention .

The Premiership champions counter-punched superbly to run in four tries in the Pool 3 clash, two of them by wing Tommy Freeman.

Northampton have a maximum 10 points from their opening two games while the Bulls have now lost twice to English opposition after stumbling at Saracens last week.

Speaking in a post-match interview with SuperSport, White summed up his feelings on the match while crediting the Saints' performance.

"Frustrating. We had all the possession in the beginning. It seems to be a trend we need to get away from, we need to finish when we're down there," he said.

RECAP: Saints skin Bulls at Loftus

"And you see how good they were, every time they were down there they really tested our defence.

"They are a good team. They were semi-finalists last year and they won the Premiership, so they're not a team to be taken lightly. I think they showed again today, if you are not on top of your game, even at home, you're not going to win.

"There are chances that we had. When they took their chances they put us under the pump. We had them a few times and we didn't finish – if you look at the try in the corner, the disallowed try for a forward pass, double banking on the tryline… but that's what happens in this competition.

"It's an incredible competition and I think people understand that if you're not up to it, you're not going to get a victory."

The Bulls will regroup for a trip to Durban next Saturday to face the Sharks at Kings Park of the Vodacom URC, where the Herd are third in the standings after seven rounds in the competition.

Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images

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