Now for the Crusaders, say Bulls
Sunday April 30 2006
Meyer now wants 80 minutes from his beefy Bulls
The Bulls, having accounted for their closest South African rivals the Sharks at the weekend, have shifted their attention to what could be the team's most crucial game of the season - a Super 14 Round 13 encounter against the Crusaders in Pretoria on Friday night.
Coach Heyneke Meyer and captain Victor Matfield both made mention of the fact that the Crusaders will prove to be an even bigger challenge than what they face in the 34-27 victory over the Sharks at the weekend.
What will make matter worse for the Bulls is the fact that the Crusaders lost to the Stormers and the New Zealand franchise will be keen to make amends for their first loss of the season.
While Meyer was "very happy" with his team's first-half performance - in which they took a 27-3 lead and scored four tries - he said it was his team's defence that saved the day in a second half that they lost 24-7 (aggregate 34-27).
In that second period the Sharks scored four tries, but in the final five minutes the Bulls were solid on defence as the Sharks searched for a winner.
"It was a great game, with quality Super 14 rugby," Meyer said. "We said that once we return home we want to play the kind of rugby we are capable of.
"But now the Crusaders await us and it is not going to get easier. We will have to produce two halves [80 minutes] of rugby like we did in the first 40 minutes against the Sharks if we hope to beat the Crusaders," Meyer added..
Matfield also praised his team for the "great" performance that secured a full five points and kept them in the hunt for a place in the play-offs, but he said they will have to cut out the large number of penalties they conceded in the second half if they hope to beat the Crusaders.
Bakkies Botha, the man-of-the-match, attributed the second-half performance to "a lack of concentration".
"We have a lot of work to do before we face the Crusaders. We must first pull that one through before we can start thinking of the play-offs," he said.
Meanwhile plans by the Sharks to cite Bulls captain Victor Matfield for dirty play were unsuccessful.
Sharks coach Dick Muir said his highly rated tighthead prop, BJ Botha, was hit by Matfield early on in the match. This disrupted the Sharks, because Botha's bleeding face had to be treated several times during the match.
But Christo Ferreira, the chief of legal affairs at SA Rugby, confirmed that there were no citings from the match.
Matfield denied hitting Botha, suggesting that the injury might have been sustained when he was cleared out at a ruck.
But the ASharks were adamant their prop were "punched" in a scrum.
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