White lauds finishers in 'expensive' win
01/25/2025 09:58 PM
Jake White praised the fight of his Vodacom Bulls in a win against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday that came at great injury cost.
The Bulls lost captain Ruan Nortje to a knee injury early in the first half and he was followed to the medical room by fellow Springbok Elrigh Louw after the hard-running loose forward suffered a gruesome knee injury and was stretchered from the field. Despite these setbacks, the Bulls bench rallied the team to a 35-22 victory with three tries in the second half.
“All I can say is I’m really proud we stayed in the fight. To lose such important players after 45 minutes, teams usually capitulate,” White said after the match.
“I got a message from Elrigh saying, ‘well done’. He’s already gone to the hospital, so it’s a very serious injury. Today was an expensive game.”
MORE: David Kriel crushes Lions at Ellis Park
A late blitz from the Bulls secured the comeback victory and White credited the impact of his reinforcements for reversing the result in their bonus-point win.
“It’s probably the best we have finished a game in the last two or three seasons,” said the Bulls director of rugby. “We are very happy the bench understood this was a game they had to make an impact, they had to be accurate.
“To go from losing the game to getting a bonus point means a lot to the team. We said at half time, don’t panic, our bench is going to win us this game.”
Springbok stalwart Willie le Roux marshaled the Bulls backline from flyhalf after replacing Boeta Chamberlain. Canan Moodie and Nizaam Carr put in a shift off the bench while replacement prop Akker van der Merwe scored late in the second half to get the Bulls over the line.
“When you have a bench with four Springboks on it, that’s great, but you want to get to the point where you have eight Boks on the bench. That’s what you need to compete in every competition.”
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
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