PRETORIA
– Now that the Blue Bulls have found their hunger for scoring tries, head coach
John Mitchell now wants them to show the same desire on defence in their last
two matches of the round-robin stage of the Currie Cup.
In their last three games, the Bulls have crossed the
whitewash 13 times as they continue to revel under the new Mitchell
dispensation.
But their age-old problem on defence also continues to
persist with 12 tries conceded against the Golden Lions, Sharks and Western Province respectively.
With only two matches remaining in the regular season and
the Bulls still holding on by a thread to hopes of making the playoffs, it will
be crucial for them to up the ante on defence, while continuing to dismantle
teams with their attack.
They need to secure bonus-point wins against the Free State
Cheetahs and Pumas that could see them through to the semi-finals.
At the same time, Mitchell is aware that his team have
struggled with defence throughout the year from their woeful Super Rugby
campaign.
But the former All Blacks coach believes that their
defensive frailties stems from players’ fear of making mistakes.
Mitchell has vowed to “eliminate” the defensive problems
that have plagued his side by the end of the season, and has demanded a no-fear
approach in the tackle for Friday’s match against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
“I just want to see a no-fear defensive performance. I just
want players to step up defensively and totally be centred collectively in our
defence.
“It has been a limitation the whole year, and to me there’s
a great future in the way that we defend, but at the moment, we are still
afraid to make errors.
“We have to find a different meaning around attacking
defence because at the moment, we still look like a side that fears to make a
mistake in the tackle, and that is something that I’m wanting to eliminate and
I will eliminate as we move forward.
“In the last two performances of the season, I want to see
an improved collective defence.”
John Mitchell is confident that the Blue Bulls can fix their problems with “attacking defence”. Photo: Gavin Barker/BackpagePix
And Mitchell has made it a little bit easier on his team by
naming an unchanged line-up from that which narrowly lost 45-46 against Western Province on Sunday.
The Bulls will look for atonement against the defending
champions, who had also inflicted a post-hooter defeat on the men in blue seven
weeks ago.
“It is important to create cohesion, and continuity in
people also helps cohesion. While there are a number of players coming back
from injuries, I think history tells us that we probably have managed the
players back into playing rugby as well as we could,” Mitchell said.
“We obviously have a new methodology and we want players to
earn the jersey, but we also want players to return for a length of time.
“That is also putting faith in the players as well because
some of these younger players in their absence have actually performed well, so
it is important to make sure that they are awarded.”
Blue Bulls Team
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Burger Odendaal
(captain), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8
Nic de Jager, 7 Tim Agaba, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Aston
Fortuin, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Bench:16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Matthys Basson, 18 Jano
Venter, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Ulrich Beyers.
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