VIDEO: Bulls to face another logistical nightmare?

03/30/2025 03:03 AM

VIDEO: As the Bulls head into their Challenge Cup Round of 16 play-off against Bayonne, bonus points are out of the window, and knock-out rugby is on the cards for their four-week tour ahead.

That is according to their Director of Rugby Jake White after his team ran in nine comfortable tries in their victory over Zebre at Loftus on Saturday.

White says the five points in the bag make it much easier to get on a plane and kick off their tour.

"We've got five points in the bank and now go on tour. It is much easier to get on a plane when we get five points at home than if we had lost that game.

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"The one thing that's different about this tour is that it's not about bonus points. I think the wins and knock-out style rugby is going to be the most important thing."

And while the coach would have liked to take one team on tour while leaving some players at home to rest, he says it is logistically impossible to do.

"We are on tour for four weeks and I don't think any team can fly teams back and forth.

"It is logistically impossible even if I wanted to take another team and rest some guys.

"So I'll take a team and I'm not sure how we'll start next week," White said.

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"I'll make a call about which sort of team we need to put on the field. The conditions are different.

"I don't think it will be as open as this game was today [Saturday].

"We don't have the luxury of flying teams back and forth. Once we go, we almost have to start preparing for four weeks on tour. It could be five," he explained.

"If you win against Bayonne and you win in the next round, you then stay for the semifinal, which is after the Glasgow game.

"So I will have to box a little differently in terms of how we get to the backend of the tour."

The play-offs will demand some very skillful planning, as the Bulls could realistically go back to either Munster or Glasgow, depending on where they finish in the standings.

"It could be that we end up playing them [Munster] in the quarterfinals and Glasgow in the semifinals.

"Or we can end up playing Glasgow in the final again.

"We want to use this tour, especially the URC games, as a dress rehearsal for where we are and what we need to do.