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Bulls to plug porous defence

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:28

Rampaging Bull: Centre Wynand Olivier - Pic: Rian Botes

The Hurricanes may find the Bulls in a less charitable mood when the two giants meet in a Super 14 encounter in Pretoria on Friday.

While the unbeaten Bulls are sitting pretty at the top of the standings, with full-house 20 from a possible 20 league points, it has been their porous defence that remained the talking point for the team's critics.

Conveniently overlooking the 24 tries and 199 points they scored in four games - an average of six tries and 50 points per game - the Bulls' detractors pointed to the 15 tries conceded as they searched for a weakness in the defending champions' armour.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke, taking the "no excuses" line, admitted that the team still has not found the perfect balance between tries scored and tries conceded, but they are working towards that.

"We take responsibility for it, it is not good enough and we have spoken about it," Ludeke told rugby365.com, when asked about his team's defensive lines trying to handle the hard-running Hurricanes backs.

"There has been some improvement, our work off the ball has improved," he said, promising that there will be a "big improvement" when they go head-to-head with the Hurricanes at Loftus Versfeld.

"There are a few basic aspects that put us under pressure and resulted in the tries against us," the Bulls boss said, without elaborating on what those may be.

He backed both the players, coaching staff and the team's systems to ensure they stay on the right track.

"We have one of the best defensive coaches in the country, and John McFarland is a stand-out coach.

"The players have also taken responsibility [for what has gone wrong].

"We are backing the systems [that are in place]. This is a team effort and I am convinced there will be a big improvement this Friday."

Ludeke was obviously a lot more delighted about his team's outstanding attack - which sees them not only top of the standings, but also well clear of the other teams in the try-scoring stakes.

Their 24 tries in four matches, at six tries a match, are well clear of the next best - the Waratahs with 20 tries from five matches. The Chiefs and Reds, at 18 tries in five matches, also don't stack up on attack when compared to a much-improved Bulls outfit.

Ludeke was keen to applaud the players for executing the game plans put in place by a coaching panel that includes Springbok Pieter Rossouw as the attack strategist.

Ludeke said much of the success now achieved can be attributed to the pre-season work, going back as far as November.

"We tried to anticipate how the new interpretations will affect the tackle and breakdown areas," he told rugby365.com, adding: "It must also be kept in mind that we made some good moves last year [on attack] already, adjustments that paid dividends for us.

"We added a few more things this year, but credit must go to the players.

"You can see in their attitude on the field, they work very hard. It is the basics that they do so well, there's not too much flashy stuff.

"The basics are in place, a good platform in the scrums - that is one area that is a marked improvement - and we have also worked on the breakdown.

"Then there is the variation of where we attack, that is working in our favour."

By Jan de Koning

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