‘We’ve achieved nothing yet’
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke says his champion side refuses to buy into the hype surrounding them.
Three wins from three, including a couple of comprehensive ones over some highly rated opposition. A fluent attack and improving defence and match winners across the track – the Bulls look the business.
In addition, they are heavily favoured to beat the Highlanders at Loftus on Saturday, stretching their unbeaten run at the ground to 14 matches. Yet Ludeke maintains perspective.
‘What have we done? We’ve won our home games. With the greatest humility, that is expected from a side who back themselves to contend for the title,’ Ludeke told keo.co.za.
‘We’ve achieved nothing yet. We haven’t toured Australasia, and we are still to play the Highlanders and Hurricanes at home. This tournament has a habit of humbling you if you get ahead of yourself and start believing the hype. We’re guarding against that, and we’re demanding an improved performance every time we step onto the field.’
Ludeke’s charges returned to training on Monday refreshed after a week where most of them were given the complete break. He said the benefits were patent in training, with the players exhibiting a fresh focus and looking sharp in their sessions.
The break also gave Ludeke the opportunity to consolidate his thinking regarding tactics and team selection, and to analyse the Highlanders closely. That analysis has lead him to identify the set phases and breakdown as their primary threats.
‘They’re a very good srcummaging unit and very competitive at the lineout. When those aspects of their game have operated well, they’ve asked big questions of some really good teams,’ he said.
‘They’re also one of the few teams who still contest the breakdown strongly despite the new law interpretations. They’re strong at the tackle point and counter-ruck with force. If they are able to slow the recycle it’ll be difficult for us to get the momentum that’s been at the heart of our success.
‘The guys are on high alert. They know they have to be switched on.’
Ludeke said they were focussed, although not exclusively, on shoring up their defence. They’ve leaked 10 tries in three matches, which is uncharacteristic for a side who have generally been one of the best defensive units over the last four years.
The Highlanders have punished teams who have had lapses in concentration or flat periods, and Ludeke was acutely aware of their penchant for the sucker punch.
‘It needs to be an accurate 80 minute performance on defence for us. We’ve probably let ourselves down slightly in that area and we can’t afford to rely on our attack to get us out of trouble,’ he said. ‘The best teams make themselves incredibly hard to score against and that’s what we are aspiring to.’
Ludeke has a selection conundrum in the back row with the return of No 8 Pierre Spies from injury. It is likely that he will thrust the hard running Springbok back into the fray immediately, but also has the option of playing Dewald Potgieter or Danie Rossouw there.
The combination of Rossouw (No 8), Pedrie Wannenberg (blindside flank) and Derick Kuun, who started against the Waratahs, looked cumbersome and unbalanced, and Ludeke should opt to reunite the regular trio of Spies, Potgieter and Deon Stegmann.
Outside of the back row reshuffle, there is unlikely to be any changes to the starting line-up who fronted the Tahs a fortnight ago.
By Ryan Vrede
March 9th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
@blueboy: #195 two Xhosa guys walk into the Loftus Versveld ticket office and ask to buy 2 seasons tickets.
The lady behind the counter asks them ” are you circumsized”
The one xhosa dude replies “yes, of course!”
The lady then says “i’m sorry, sir, but you have to be a complete **** to be a blue bulls fan”
March 9th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
@Transformation:
I saw this joke here this morning.
And here it is, back again.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
@Dawn:
Ya, except the Jews are now Xhosa
March 9th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
@logie_Jumpbuck:
Steve goes the other way.
That’s why he winks at all the players.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
#197wpI am not slagging any of the other teams i am merely pointing out the facts as they stand at this moment in time,if you take any offence to these facts that is up to you but you cannot deny the BULLS record as that is there for all time in the history books for all to see.MAAK ALMAL BULLE BOKKE.
March 9th, 2010 at 3:41 pm
@blueboy:
BEHALWE PEDRIE WANT HY’S MAL !
March 9th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
Blueboy….. curious name that.
There used to be a Stormersboy who got hounded off the site after continual bombardment about his nic sending out the wrong signals about his sexual preferences
March 9th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
@Dawn: i only just got it on me email, now…
March 9th, 2010 at 4:27 pm
@Bod: Nope. Still here. Trying to occasionally be the voice of reason. Sometimes I do, sometimes I’m as biased as the next guy. As for someone thinking my nic sends out the wrong signals, well, I’m a bit surprised, but that’s their problem not mine.
It does get to me from time to time that we are so vehemently anti each other’s teams. It borders on the ridiculous. I’d be suprised if people here would have the balls to say half the stuff that gets said here to my face. Or anyone else’s for that matter. I keep imagining these really geeky guys who never had any sporting talent or ability trying to make up for it on a forum.
I know that this isn’t always the case, but it makes me wonder sometimes…..You know, those with the most to prove and all that…
March 9th, 2010 at 4:53 pm
@stormersboy: Sorry…. my memory escapes me, it was in fact a certain CapeTownboy that I was thinking of
Capetownboy, Blueboy…..
March 9th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
And here’s the best joke of them all – a million people tell the same joke every week and they still think it’s funny…
March 9th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
@Bod: Thought you must have been thinking of someone else.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
@Staal:
Yes, I believe he rolled his ankle over on an uneven patch of gras on the field- Probably the same place Potties did his ankle which cost him three game.
Hopefully someone will do something about that patch now. It could cost us dearly otherwise.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
@catleya: Sound like the right time for a conspiracy theory – perhaps a mysterious third force is at work; perhaps the Kiwis and Ozzies have colluded to bring the Bulls Boks down; perhaps it is the Spears (or is that Kings?) trying to get rid of the Bulls so they can take their spot in the Super 15; perhaps it is the Northern Hemisphere trying to ensure that du Preez has no chance of winning player of the year. I personally can’t decided which one it is.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Game between Province and the Bulls will be massive. Great defence against strong attack. Can’t wait.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
@Wp_FanS14:
You are right but I think by that time the Bulls attack will be sorted…
March 9th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
I reckon there must be a geyser somewhere in OZ or NZ that is errupting so heavily that it is sucking a hole in the pitch on the Loftus B Field through a connecting channell dug by the Anzacs to spy on the Bulls now that they’ve won the S14 fair and square with all the AB’s participating. It could never be the Bulls groundstaff not filling it to make it level with the rest.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
@Blouste: It already is blouste.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
@Wp_FanS14:
Sorry…meant defence…
March 9th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
@catleya:
March 9th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Why do people get upset when i defend the BULLS everyone else can say what they like but when i give a few facts a lot of people are up in arms,what`s wrong does the truth hurt.It`s not my fault my team is winning trophies,as i have already stated i remember the time when the bulls lost every game and finished at the bottom of the log and i just had to except it and live with it,so people grow up and admit it to yourselves if your team is playing **** live with it.
March 9th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
@blueboy: You have to defend your team at all cost. Rugby is a sensitive issue in SA, but we love the banter.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
just try and imagine a south african side going unbeaten in the S14.
what a truely amazing feat that would be.
a marker for every other south african side in the future.
already the mindset of sa teams is changing.
no longer content with a 4th place away from home semi…..but now a 1st place home semi .
rugby landscape is changing….kiwis and ozzies just haven’t fugured it out yet.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:55 am
…or maybe a stormers fan caught a mole at Goodwood park and dropped it off at the Loftus B field the previous night..
March 10th, 2010 at 3:07 am
Express News Service Tags : hp vidhan sabha Posted: Saturday , Mar 06, 2010 at 2346 hrs Shimla:
RAMPAGING BLUE BULLS
With the state government granting permission to killing blue bulls that wreak havoc on standing crops in certain districts of Himachal Pradesh, the issue rocked the Vidhan Sabha on Friday.
On Thursday, The Indian Express had reported that the government had decided to give permission to kill Blue bulls that damage crops in Una, Bilaspur, Nurpur( Kangra), Paonta (Sirmaur) and Nalagarh (Solan) districts, after analysing the magnitude of the menace and the increasing pressure from farmer groups. Divisional forest officers in the respective forest divisions have been authorised vide a notification to issue permits for killing. Only two Blue bulls can be killed on one permit valid for four weeks.
Raising the issue in the Assembly, Congress MLA Mukesh Agnihotri said even after being shot at, a Blue bull has the capacity to run for some distance before collapsing. “In such a condition, when a dead animal is found on other farmers’ land it will create unnecessary problems for them,” he said, adding that the matter needed to be addressed in the rule.