Jake White shrugged off the Vodacom Bulls’ record of 10 consecutive losses as “irrelevant” in the wake of the Champions Cup last 16 defeat to Toulouse on Sunday.
Another dim weekend of results for the Vodacom Bulls saw a historic loss to the Griffons in the Currie Cup followed by a Champions Cup playoff exit to a powerhouse Toulouse outfit.
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Last season’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship finalists have now lost 10 games on the trot in all competitions.
However, speaking in the post-match press conference after the game in Toulouse, White brushed away the run of results as he argued that it won’t matter if they qualify for the URC and Currie Cup playoffs.
“All I do is read about that, and yes, it is something that you have to change – and it will change, there is no doubt in my mind,” White said after the match.
“When you enter a competition and you win the first eight games and lose the next eight and make the playoffs, you have exactly the same amount of chances that the team who won 16 games in a row have.
“This is a difficult competition and we are out of this one now, but we’ve just got to keep working until we can turn the corner on those other ones.
“Anyone can add up however many you want to, how many consecutive whatever – it’s irrelevant. The bottom line is that we’ve got to make these [URC and Currie Cup] playoffs, and that’s our main goal now. It’s not about how many we’ve lost, how many we’ve won, how many we should’ve and could’ve won.
“We’ve got to make sure we keep working hard to make the playoffs of all the competitions we’ve got left.”
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The Vodacom Bulls have a quick turnaround as they host Griquas, who beat DHL Western Province in Cape Town, in a Currie Cup clash at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
In terms of the URC, the seventh-placed Vodacom Bulls host Zebre and Leinster in their final two round-robin fixtures starting next weekend, under pressure as there are just five points between themselves and the 11th-placed Lions.
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