While building the DHL Stormers up as favourites for the quarter-final clash in Cape Town, Jake White admitted that he’s had enough of hearing about the Vodacom Bulls’ record in the north-south derby.
Following home and away losses over the past two seasons and a defeat in last season’s grand final, the Vodacom Bulls will go into Saturday’s crunch quarter-final clash on the back of five successive losses to the Stormers.
Speaking ahead of the match, White said that the record would be nothing but history when the two teams take to the pitch, adding the Stormers are the favourites at a packed DHL Stadium.
“Ten incumbent Springboks, they have lost one home game in the last eight months. They must be favourites,” said White. “They’ve beaten us five times. If I hear that again, I think I am going to get sick.
“It’s absolutely irrelevant how many times they’ve won before. The players are in the right space. It’s knockout rugby now, and a couple of months ago, we had no chance of making the playoffs.
“If I read all the articles, we were doom and gloom. We had, in everyone’s eyes, a poor season after ending sixth on the log. Some teams play really well and end up fifth and fourth.
“I am not disputing that it’s a massive challenge. But it’s a knockout game now, and one thing we have managed to do over time is to play really well in games that have counted, where we’ve had to win and knock people out of competitions.
“That’s all I can trust myself and the team on – we’ve got a history of playing really well in those big games. And it’s going to be massive: I heard there’s going to be 38 000 tickets sold, and we played in that final last year and it was an unbelievable occasion.”
TEAM: Stormers power up for playoff
The Vodacom Bulls have had something of a publicly muted build-up to the playoff as the pre-match press conference on Friday morning was the first time the camp had interacted with the media this week.
White said that his side would do their talking on the field.
“The preparation has been good. I don’t want to say it’s been quiet, but it’s a big week and because of that there actually hasn’t been much to talk about,” said the Bulls mentor.
“We don’t need to talk this week, we just need to play well. There’s nothing untoward about our preparation. It’s a knockout game against a really good Stormers team. They’re defending champions with ten incumbent Springboks, playing at home.
“It’s simply another one of those massive games for the Bulls.”
The @BlueBullsRugby have never beaten the Stormers in the @Vodacom #URC, and it's going to stay that way when they collide in the quarter-final at DHL Stadium, according to @mark_keohane and Zels. pic.twitter.com/D0L9lXKKF5
— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) May 5, 2023
Photo: Steve Haag/Gallo Images