RUGBY NEWS - Vodacom Bulls coach John Mitchell praised his Springboks after their come-from-behind 43-34 win over the Jaguares at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, ending off their home run on a high.
After going 19-0 down, the Bulls staged a remarkable comeback to outscore their Argentinean opposition six tries to five in a high-scoring and entertaining game, and key among the comeback kings were the senior players in the squad – most noticeably Handre Pollard, Jesse Kriel, Warrick Gelant and RG Snyman.
All played vital parts in the comeback and inspired their teammates into some big hits and good turnovers, to create some excellent try-scoring opportunities that eventually allowed the Bulls to create some daylight and pull away for the win.
Mitchell agreed that they had a good game and said the big thing was to get some of the other squad members on the same level.
“They’ve had outstanding seasons to be fair. If you look at their seasons before they were intermittent, but the test players have been very very good this year. So now we are asking players ranked two, three or four to adapt and come to the party and get on the same page a lot quicker.
“That has probably been the biggest area that has concerned me mostly, the longer we have had to dig deeper into our depth, there has been slow adaptation. But we will get there but it is great to see the top players lead by example.”
Mitchell turned his attention to his side’s last game of the season, a crucial one for the Emirates Lions, who will be looking to finish top of the South African conference and give themselves a confidence boost ahead of the playoffs.
“They’re the best team in the conference and as a former Lions coach I might have done them a favour tonight with the ball hitting the post. Yeah this Lion feeds on certain things. There are certain things that are very important to them and that create momentum. We’ve taken a look at them as a coaching group clearly. They’re very good but we have a chance to go to Ellis Park and to finish the season with the same intent that we started.”
