Jake White says the Vodacom Bulls face a more gruelling travel schedule after they clinched a home last 16 tie in the Champions Cup on Saturday.
Already qualified for the playoffs heading into the clash against Bordeaux-Begles in Pretoria, the Bulls finished second in Pool 1 following a 46-40 win over the French outfit at Loftus Versfeld.
Four first-half tries and 10 points from the boot of Johan Goosen set up White’s charges to progress to the knockout stage of the competition for a second successive season, after they raced into a 26-14 lead at half time.
The Bulls’ Vodacom URC schedule around the last-16 weekend of 5 to 7 April, with the quarter-finals set for the following week, is jam-packed with trips abroad, and speaking post-match on Saturday, White anticipates a hectic period for his troops.
RECAP: Bulls pip Bordeaux in Loftus thriller
“I’d love a home game at Loftus [in the last 16], but we actually play Dragons [in Newport on 23 March] and then Leinster [in Dublin on 29 March],” the director of rugby told reporters. “[Getting] a home game, we’ve got to come back here after being two weeks overseas.
“If we win that game, we go back overseas to play in the quarter-finals as you are [unlikely to get a home quarter-final].
“Then we’ve got to come here and play Munster. Basically, our schedule would be Dragons away, Leinster away, back home for a last 16, away for a quarter-final, and then back here for Munster [in Pretoria on 20 April].
“I don’t want to underplay anything, but it’s a helluva tough task for a group of players to fly back and forth, with the age profile of our players.”
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Despite a brace of tries by Marcell Coetzee and scoring six touchdowns in total, the Bulls also leaked six tries on Saturday while Bordeaux got a losing bonus point as well to remain top of the pool.
White added: “I’m trying hard to digest what actually happened there. At half time, we probably thought we could get a 36 points difference, which meant that we would’ve come first.
“But I am obviously very proud of the fact that we still got a win. You don’t score 46 points against Bordeaux… If you go and look at how many times they have conceded 46 points, it’s not often. They have been dominating in France, even away from home.
“So, I’m happy, and there will be lessons that we will learn. But it’s always nice to learn lessons when you’ve won. It would have been a different speech if we had thrown that away.”
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