Jake White now not so ‘scared to put guys in' as Bulls eye URC title
Devon Williams Fullback Devon Williams has been a stand-out figure on attack and defence for the Bulls this season. Photo: BackpagePix
Image: BackpagePix
One could understand the absolutely horrible feeling that was enveloping Bulls coach Jake White following the United Rugby Championship final defeat to Glasgow last year.
Some fans and critics may have thought it would just be a case of the Bulls rocking up at Loftus Versfeld to clinch the URC title.
But they didn't bank on the fighting spirit of Franco Smith's Glasgow Warriors, who paid tribute to their name by producing a remarkable fight-back from 13-0 down in the first half to claim an epic 21-16 victory.
In the immediate aftermath, White said that 'maybe I'm the problem', mentioning that he had lost a few finals before that too.
'I lost a Super Rugby final (against the) Chiefs (when coaching the Brumbies), lost a Rainbow Cup in Benetton, lost two URC finals. So I'll probably have to look at what I have to do as a coach to try and get over the line,' the former Springbok coach said after the 2024 final.
Of course, White has won the biggest prize of them all, the 2007 Rugby World Cup, and has had many highs during an illustrious coaching career spanning 40 years.
But crunch time has arrived in the URC, and it is all about beating Edinburgh in Saturday's quarter-final at Loftus Versfeld (1.30pm start).
'I still think I'm the problem,' White said this week when asked by the media to reflect on the 2024 final.
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'What I meant is, and I say it because I can't blame effort... I mean, I'm going to look at myself as a coach.
'Pep Guardiola went from winning six titles to struggling. And now, what changed? Yes, you can say it's injuries, and is it management of those injuries?
'I look at where we are as a club, and I can't as a coach then distance myself from the fact that it can't be me.
'And there are things that I've done and selection choices I've made or recruitment choices I've made or that I need to have learned from, either work or don't work.
'And maybe the calls I made... And that's why I said what I said after those finals, am I missing something? As a coach, you have to grow as well.'
White added that what makes life even more difficult is that they don't have a detailed analysis of whether their plans have worked or not – outside of looking at the final results.
'There's analysis, amazing thing. I can give you analysis on every player, on which side he tackles, which side he misses tackles, how fast he runs, how many kicks he's made,' he said.
'Who does analysis of coaches? Who does analysis of whether what you do works?
'And I'm saying for me, I've got to reflect and go, maybe it's the way I do things, maybe it's the way I could have changed things...
'And I think those are the coaches that I think grow the most.
'And I've been around long enough to know that you also need to be honest with yourself sometimes, that you might be missing a trick or two.'
One thing White has definitely changed this season is rotating his squad.
The likes of fullback Devon Williams, flyhalf Keagan Johannes, Sergeal Petersen, Sebastian de Klerk, Zak Burger, JF van Heerden, Cobus Wiese and Akker van der Merwe have benefited from regular game-time, although some of those instances were due to injuries.
Despite that, there hasn't been enough rotation of certain players.
Stedman Gans comes to mind as a top-class centre who has hardly featured this season, and the same goes for flank Nama Xaba, who was the Player of the Match in the recent victory over the Dragons, and No 8 Mpilo Gumede.
'I think the one thing which stands out significantly is I've rotated the squad much more than I have in the last couple of years,' White said.
'If you look at how many players we've used, there's definitely been a change in mindset from week to week, as opposed to being, I think it was a little bit more conservative last year, a little bit more scared to put guys in.
'Second area, I think that just by time, people get better. You look at (Johan) Grobbelaar, who's now 25, 26.
'You look at (Ruan) Nortjé, who's now 25, 26. They've been here five years, so over time, 20-year-olds are not as good as 25, 26-year-old guys.
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