POOR FIRST HALF
Stormers give Bulls something to build on
Stormers in fighting mode reveal Bulls’ setpiece deficiencies
Bulls coach Nollis Marais lamented his side’s poor scrum and laid the 37-24 defeat they suffered to the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday squarely on setpiece deficiencies. The Bulls were blown off the park in the first half‚ trailing 24-0 at the break‚ largely because the Stormers bullied their scrum and lineout so savagely that it was hard to watch at times. "If you’re 24-0 down at halftime‚ it could become 50 points quickly‚ so I was happy with some of the character shown‚ but it wasn’t a good performance from us at all‚" Marais said. "I put the first half down to loss of setpieces — we lost lineouts and we were dominated in the scrums. And on attack, we lost the ball several times and they made us pay through quick-tap penalties or good kicks in behind us. "Rugby still comes down to doing the basics well – dominating scrums and lineouts and making fewer mistakes. I can’t put my finger on exactly why we struggled so much in the scrum‚ I’d like to see the video first before making ...
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