Jake White says the numbers, including those of Bloody Sunday, are with Bulls

Irish Daily Mirror

a day ago

Former Springbok Cornal Hendricks was a living legend during his years at Bulls, 2019-24.
But following his tragic death two months back he has become a symbol of unity and diversity, the club going as far as retiring his no14 jersey. Bulls right-wingers wear no23 in games.
Given Hendricks died on May 14th and the URC final is being played on June 14th, wily Bulls coach Jake White was quick to make another connection...wait for it...
"Funny enough, I was doing a bit of homework about Croke Park and I read that Bloody Sunday, 14 people died there," said White becoming the first person in our storied history to co-opt Irish 'war' dead for use, on site, against us.
"Cornal died on the 14th of May and we play the URC final on Saturday 14th of June. It's quite an ominous number so there is a lot of nice memories of Cornal that we will use and the number 14.
Hopefully it will be a fantastic day on the 14th off June for us as a club as well. It's quite amazing that the number 14 keeps coming up. Stars are aligned. Hopefully we will use that in our favour.'
Written in the Stars? There is no 14th sign of the Zodiac (indeed whether there is even a 13th sign is long-contested) but White is not going to pass up Bloody Sunday once it has been coughed up in his lap.
'There is a lot of relevance, the number 14 not being used this weekend. Sometimes you need that.
"You guys are from Ireland and look what Munster did in the time that they lost their coach (Anthony Foley, RIP 2016) and how quickly the reason why just turned the way Munster became for that year.
'A lot of these boys weren't around probably (when Croke Park was opened to rugby) and haven't understood what the significance of Croke Park means in history.
"And to be fair, if I am being really honest, I told them not to comment or to be sucked in to anything that would lead anyone to read it the wrong way.
'Everyone has a feeling about it and for us the fact that it is the 14th if the month, that when I read it was 14 people that died I thought, jeez, it was quite spooky, you know? Cornel dies on the 14th of May. I think his son was born on the 14th of December."
Munster would make the final of the PRO12 in 2016/17 but lost to Scarlets at Thomond Park and, earning a home Champions Cup semi-final, lose to Saracens.
Moreover White isn't for kow-towing to idea Leinster have all the aces available in the rugby deck and scoffed at fellow South African and current Glasgow Warriors coach Franco Smith suggesting Leinster, with their Academy and their pathways, were 'eight years ahead of rest of URC…'.
Ever the iconoclast (someone who questions or opposses generally accepted beliefs) White asked:
'How come they are eight years ahead of them (Glasgow) now? Last year they weren't next to them.
"Look, they are years ahead, lets not kid ourselves, I hear 13 British Lions and 12 guys going on the Irish tour this summer plus three internationals if you look at Barrett, Slimani and RG Snyman and then you have guys like Ross Byrne and Luke McGrath that weren't picked.
'That's 30 guys in their squad, They probably have more Irish international caps than we have URC games under our belt ao that's the significant point.
"I don't know why Franco would say that. I don't know how he gets to eight years but I will tell you something there is no doubt that Leinster are the benchmark of what I do and how I prepare, and the benchmark of what's happened at this Club."
White points out there are three former Springbok coaches currently with the Bulls but that Leinster comes from generations of 'international' coaches:
"Myself (2004-07 and RWC 2007 winner), John Williams (1992-93) and Heyneke Meyer (2012-15) are here now and have been South Africa coaches.
"I would hate to know, and I haven't looked but I wonder how many international coaches have coached Leinster. I'm sure it's a lot more than three.
'So if you look at that it's not just the eight years. Leinster have proven over the years how they recruit, how they play.
Look at a guy like Leo Cullen. He is a fantastic role model for what Leinster is all about. He has captained them, he has coached them. He epitomises Leinster. I can only praise them.
"A lot of teams are trying to emulate what they have done, how they've done it and how they have gone about their business because there's no doubt they are the benchmark of where we want to get to."
Bulls have come this far - and their sponsor paid for first-class Sunday plane tickets as opposed to Monday travel - and are just on step short.
"What I've said is if you want to win the lotto, you make sure you've got a ticket and there's only two teams who have got a ticket now.
"That doesn't mean it's a lottery. It just means that if you want to keep yourself alive, and you want to win the lotto...
"There's a great joke, a guy asked God every day, please let me win the lotto, please let me win the lotto, and eventually God said, meet me halfway and buy a ticket."
The Bulls have previously won Super 14 titles in 2007, 2009 and 2010 and remain the only South African team to have taken that title. Crusaders have 12, Blues are next with four and Bulls third with three. White desperately wants to add a URC.
"It would be massive for us," he says, "I've read about the top 15 clubs and the budgets they have and we weren't mentioned in that top 15. Leinster, Toulouse, those sort of clubs would be considered the top clubs in the world.
"It would be massive for us, for this club too because I think playing in three finals in four years shows that our players are good enough.
"But I've been around enough to know there's not a service award, you don't just get to win trophies because you play in finals."