Assistant coach Hugo van As reckons the Vodacom Bulls’ Currie Cup exit on Saturday was a “disappointing” end to a “long season”.
A flawless goal-kicking effort from Ruan Pienaar helped the Free State Cheetahs beat the Bulls 39-10 in Bloemfontein on Saturday to progress to the Currie Cup final.
The Cheetahs dominated the clash to stay on course for a seventh Currie Cup title, and Van As bemoaned the Bulls’ inability to capitalise on opportunities in the semi-final in the Free State.
Speaking post match on Saturday, he told reporters the Pretoria outfit likely paid the price for the players’ eagerness to compete in all competitions as they ran out of steam in a last-ditch attempt to win silverware.
“It’s been very disappointing. Let’s be honest, the Bulls are a proud organisation and we’re definitely not happy falling short in the quarter-finals of the URC and now the last four of the Currie Cup,” Van As said.
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“However, credit must also go to this group, who decided that they want to participate and be part of this campaign, particularly in light of us being pretty much down and out after the first six rounds. There was a lot of character shown, but the outcomes weren’t great.
“It’s been a long season, this team has played a helluva lot of rugby. As much as these men showed resilience and a willingness to keep on fighting in making the semis, it probably counted against them in the end.
“These boys deserve a good mental and physical break. Getting out of the system a bit, out of each other’s company will do them good. They need some refreshment. It will be good for them.”
He added: “In the first half, there were small margins. We had a lot of opportunities and didn’t use them. A few bounces of the ball didn’t go our way, like the grubber we lost behind the tryline.
“Even though we were down by 20 at half time, we still felt we were in it and had we capitalised a bit better, the match complexion would’ve been different.”
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