Jake White is willing to stick with a settled lineup in the hope of turning things around for the Vodacom Bulls, after naming a formidable team to face Ulster on Saturday.
White, as director of rugby, recently fielded a strong team with a host of Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaigners in back-to-back Currie Cup defeats, hoping to better prepare his charges for this week’s clash at Kingspan Stadium, as well as a trip to Toulouse in the Champions Cup round of 16 next Sunday.
But, prior to and at the turn of the year, he fielded much-changed squads from week to week across both the URC and Champions Cup, to mixed results.
Last year’s losing URC finalists, the Bulls aim to secure a place in the play-offs from sixth spot on the table, and speaking from Belfast in a media conference on Friday, White told reporters: “I’m fully aware that if I had kept the same group of players together, and played them week in and week out, that might’ve been a way I could’ve turned a couple of things around.
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“I’m still not convinced [but] what I need to get out of [the next few matches] is I need to keep this group of players together for a while now.
“And the fact that they haven’t gelled is because I’ve swapped combinations, I’ve swapped teams. Out of my 50-man squad, when I’ve got the 23 who play every week … you saw last year when we played Wednesday/Saturday, Wednesday/Saturday, we played some of our best rugby by the end of the competition.
“I wasn’t convinced that flogging the same horse would’ve got us the same results, but in hindsight people will say, ‘why didn’t you keep the same guys?’, but that’s easier said than done.
“[Now] I just want to see if we keep this group together as a cohesive unit in the next couple of weeks, whether we can turn the results around, because we’re obviously not where we want to be.”
Springboks Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie return at fullback and right wing, respectively, in a formidable Bulls matchday 23 to lock horns with an Ulster side that will be led by Springbok No 8 Duane Vermeulen.
Dan McFarland’s troops are third in the standings and were just five points behind the DHL Stormers heading into round 16.
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White added: “[Ulster] have quite a few Irish international players away but their squad is quite balanced and settled, and they play well at home and have a big pack of forwards.
“They play well with the style of players they have, and maul extremely well, and they weren’t an easy team to beat, even last year away from home.
“I know all teams lose their players and lose their Springboks … I’m just expecting them [Arendse and Moodie] to do what they’re good at, by offering us a bit of X factor.
“They’re both Springboks who are going to play in the back three at the World Cup. Obviously got great skills for that kind of style, and having David Kriel on the one wing, Canan on the other, and Kurt-Lee at fullback offers a nice balance between defence and attack.
“We need to try and find a way to get a win [against Ulster].”
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