Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke admits he will be again looking for reasons why his side dominated the possession stakes against the Highlanders and didn’t get the reward.
The Bulls had more than enough ball in their Vodacom Super Rugby game on Friday but defensive lapses and a lack of execution cost them as they went down 27-20 in Dunedin.
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The side was greeted by driving rain as they arrived at their next base in Coogee Beach in Sydney to ready themselves for what promises to be another physical battle against the other light blue side in the competition, the Waratahs.
Ludeke has more than once this season spoken about how his side are doing all the basics right, but how they don’t get the reward as execution breaks down at critical moments and in Dunedin it was the same story.
There were 11 handling errors and 20 turnovers in the game – a stat that cost them as the Highlanders defended like Trojans and struck with the few chances they got.
“We dominated the whole first half but went in 13-all,” Ludeke told supersport.com, “We had a few opportunities that we couldn’t convert and that was disappointing.
“We had all the territorial dominance and we kept the ball a lot better than in our last two games, but that last pass under pressure didn’t stick, and our ball carriers lost the ball in contact too much.
“It was a reflection of just how good the Highlanders defence was on the night.”
Ludeke and his coaching team will be looking at just why this has happened so often this season. One possibility is that the key decision-makers aren’t as experienced as they should be, but the Bulls managed to get this right in the past, after losing their opening two games of the season.
The problem they have now is that they are already halfway through the tour without a win, and after bringing in Victor Matfield to help them achieve their goal, and one which they failed at, it begs the question of what to do for the Waratahs, who themselves had a torrid time against the Force, dominating every facet but losing out as Nick Cummins scored a hat-trick of breakaway tries.
Ludeke denied they had targeted the Highlanders game specifically and played his cards close to his chest about just what he wanted to do this week in terms of team selection.
“We target every game on tour and take it week for week,” Ludeke explained, “We give it our all every week to get a win, and try to play the game in the right areas.
“On Monday we start over and look at where we can go better the next week. We did do better against the Highlanders and our possession was a lot better than the past two games, and with that our confidence grows.”
Ludeke said the Waratahs would be a tough team to face.
“They are the team that kick the least and they have a very good pack of forwards, but they also have enough gamebreakers out wide to hurt you in broken play. We will have to look carefully at how we want to play them and see how our injuries are.
“But the team that will take the field will be ready and focused to get a result. Whoever we pick, they will be our best team.”
The loss against the Highlanders meant the Bulls dropped to eighth on the log, and with no South African team having won in 10 matches now in Australasia, the Bulls definitely want to reverse that trend this weekend.