Bulls’ bucks please Ludeke
6 Mar 2012
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke says his expectations of a new-look Bulls side surpassed those of some pessimists but cautioned that they were very much a work in progress.
The Bulls lost a string of players to injuries and retirements last year, while a number opted to continue their careers abroad. In the sextet of Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Danie Rossouw, Gurthro Steenkamp and Gary Botha they lost 581 Super Rugby caps as well as an appreciable number of Test caps.
That shearing of experience was expected to undermine their cause, despite the franchise recruiting relatively well and elevating a clutch of talented youngsters from their junior structures. However, through an excellent start which has included convincing victories over the Sharks and Cheetahs, they have thus far defied widely-held expectations for a mediocre season.
Ludeke was cool in his appraisal of his charges, but said he is aware of the belief that the rebuilding would come at a cost and totally disagrees with it. ‘We will never say we expected to start as well as we have. We respect the game and our opponents too much for that. But I will say that we put a lot of hard work in in the pre-season and that work has showed in the opening two games. We didn’t know for sure how it would go but we had a lot of faith in this group,’ Ludeke told keo.co.za.
‘We lost a lot of experienced players and people forget that we have quite a few senior players remaining. A guy like Flip van der Merwe, for example, played a lot of rugby while Bakkies Botha was here. Francois Hougaard has played regularly for the last two years, albeit not at scrumhalf. There are others, like Juandré Kruger who has experience gained from playing in the Premiership. Chiliboy Ralepelle is a Test player even though this is his first season as the starting hooker. So we aren’t a completely new-look side. That has shown in the way the guys have gone about their business in the first two games. The other young players have responded brilliantly to their challenges at this stage.
‘That said we know how results in this tournament can swing. So we are happy with the start but know that there are many, many matches still to play. Consistency is key. Nobody will remember what happened at the start of the season if we don’t keep winning and playing well.’
The Bulls are expected to continue their winning streak this weekend when they host the Blues, who have played poorly and are winless. They have been hammered in their last three visits to Loftus and nothing suggests they will make the exponential improvements they need to record an unlikely result.
However, Ludeke said he still holds the Auckland side in high regard. ‘They could easily have been on the other end of the result against the Crusaders and there were moments in their match against the Chiefs last week that if they had finished better they would have been in with a shout,’ he said.
‘We know it takes one good performance to turn around a season and the Blues will be determined to make that match against us. What has happened before counts for nothing.’
The Blues have been tactically naive in their defeats, often running the ball from deep in their territory, then surrendering possession when carriers are isolated or through handling errors. Ludeke doesn’t expect them to temper their approach but noted their ability to be direct if they choose to.
‘They have some good broken-field runners and we’ll have to be accurate in our kicking to ensure that we don’t feed them. But they also have some big forwards and they’ve shown in the past that they can play through many phases with them if they want to. They are a very balanced side and it will require us to be on top of all areas of our game to beat them.’
123 Comments
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6 Mar 2012, 17:26 pm
@wing_14(wing_14)-51: Neither do any Bulls surporter enjoys it, but then, if that is the way to win some games, we’ll accept it with the victory.
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-56: Nou wonder ek of die lugrederye deskrimineer teen ons arme ministers. Oosthuizen se gemiddelde kaartjie kos R27 803 teen oor Mbalula se R46 713? Ek aanvaar dis verskillende vlugte / tye, maar steeds ‘n enorme verskil. Hulle sal reken dis boggerôl in vergelyking met onse President se VSA trippie wat die arme belastingbetalers net R10 000 000 gekos het.
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-62: drank en e-pos het al baie lewens verwoes. Be aware!
6 Mar 2012, 18:07 pm
@welcome to my life, hugh…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-25: Ok then…
My counterexample is a string of losses on EOYT 2009, 3N 2010 and 3N 2011.
By the same ageing Bok team.
6 Mar 2012, 18:11 pm
@welcome to my life, hugh…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-43: I don’t want to reopen a closed case…
But…
The Boks’ ineptitude on attack lost the game, not the referee.
We were all over them, but could not push the envelope.
6 Mar 2012, 18:21 pm
#62 stormersboy I thought you were a ******** by the way you post on here.
6 Mar 2012, 18:26 pm
# 104 I just posted i thought stormersboy was a d-u-t-c-h-m-a-n and it was deleted and i spelt it the wright way with no hyphens,he posted the above word on #62 and it was not deleted how come.
6 Mar 2012, 18:41 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-105: Because I have special privileges on this site my man.
I’m not sure what your post no 104 is meant to imply.
We all have a bit of Dutchie in us.
6 Mar 2012, 18:44 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-106: Besides you 100% dutchmen need to learn how to spell correctly.
6 Mar 2012, 18:45 pm
6 Mar 2012, 18:48 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-107:
Interesting line of attempted humour.
6 Mar 2012, 18:50 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-109: But true in most cases.
6 Mar 2012, 18:53 pm
@trupisero(trupisero)-110: But then again, not as bad as most souties “verkraging die taal”
6 Mar 2012, 19:02 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-107: At least us 100% dutchies don’t want to kots on a Bok jersey
6 Mar 2012, 19:20 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-109: It was just a way of using the word dutchmen in a post. Rubbing it in.
Besides, there’s a big difference in my book, between a “dutchie” and an Afrikaans speaking person.
@willievz(willievz)-112: True. Never wantedd to kots on a Bok jersey myself either.
6 Mar 2012, 19:23 pm
Stormersboy is Dutchmanlite.
6 Mar 2012, 19:26 pm
What is going on here.
6 Mar 2012, 19:37 pm
@the artist formerly known as gunther(gunther)-114: I’m also part black.
Or so I’m told.
About 9 inches of me.
6 Mar 2012, 19:39 pm
Just to be clear.
That was a joke too.
ha
ha
ha!
6 Mar 2012, 20:02 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-117: This whole thread is a joke.
Cause it’s about the Bulls!
6 Mar 2012, 20:03 pm
6 Mar 2012, 20:27 pm
Its a long tournament this, so its tough to call it so early, but I must admit the Bulls are quite impressive thus far.
But we will see how it goes kids.
6 Mar 2012, 20:44 pm
@willievz(willievz)-118: he he he
6 Mar 2012, 20:59 pm
he he he
7 Mar 2012, 04:23 am
Ludeke is spot on. The loss of key players has been offset by the fact that their replacements have been coming through the Bulls system already. Players like Chilli and Hougaard have plenty of experience. There should not be too many problems with cohesion either.
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