The Vodacom Bulls are not daunted by the prospect of a Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the Stormers in Cape Town, according to assistant coach Chris Rossouw.
The Bulls dominated a second-string Leinster outfit for a nine-try, 62-7 victory at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, ending the Irish giants’ long unbeaten streak in the process.
The result pushed Jake White’s troops into fifth place on the log, and remaining there was contingent on Glasgow beating Connacht in the final match of the regular season. Glasgow clocked Connacht on Saturday night to send the Bulls into a Top 8 showdown with the defending champions at Cape Town Stadium – a rematch of last season’s finale.
RECAP: Rampant Bulls trample Leinster
“Cape Town is the easiest option with the travel,” Rossouw said after the Bulls match. “And it would be nice to play the Stormers.
“The playoffs is a different animal but the guys are full of confidence and are hitting their straps. It’s nice to have momentum, a good vibe in the camp … which is the best position to be in heading into the playoffs.”
The Bulls held 70% of the possession in the first 50 minutes of Saturday’s match in Pretoria, and Rossouw praised The Herd for ruthlessly capitalising on that advantage.
“We all know Leinster enjoy playing with the ball in hand but a big contribution to that possession stat was our defence. A lot of our defence caused a lot of turnovers, which meant that we got possession again of the ball.
“And then when we had the ball we were very clinical in terms of carrying the ball and attacking the space, which either got us momentum, a try or penalty. It was almost like a vicious cycle for Leinster to turn things around for them.
“The last three years the Bulls have played a nice mix of mauls, pick-and-go and counter-attack and shape attack. I want to compliment the guys, they were hungry and actually squeezed Leinster into submission and forced errors which we converted into attack. So it was nice to play that champagne rugby.”
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