Near-perfect Bulls start Super Rugby season with a bang

Bulls coach Pote Human has described his side’s highly impressive 40-3 Super Rugby win over the Stormers at the weekend as a “near-perfect” performance.

The Bulls played attacking and at times devastating rugby as they scored four tries through Johnny Kotze‚ Jesse Kriel and a brace by debutant Rosko Specman.

Man of the match Handrè Pollard dazzled as he converted all seven his kicks — four conversions and three penalties. The Stormers’ penalty was scored by SP Marais.

Their defence was able to stop the Stormers from scoring a try and they impressed with their line-outs in which they managed to take the ball away from their visitors. Their scrummaging was also on point.

“Overall it was a near-perfect performance from the boys but I agree that we gave away soft penalties and sometimes in defence we were too narrow.

“Those are the few things that we need to work [on] more going forward‚” said a satisfied Human after his first match in charge at this level. “This is a good confidence-booster for the guys and we are looking forward to the season.

“I know that we have the squad to do well this year but we must just stay on the ground and be humble. There is no doubt that we will surprise a lot of teams this season.

“In our set pieces‚ especially in the line-outs‚ we were very impressive because we managed to take the ball away from them, and not to concede a try against the Stormers is a great achievement.”

Captain Lood de Jager agreed with Human that they were spot on with their set pieces.

“It was a good effort by the pack; everybody went out to the field to execute the plans. We spent a lot of time off the field analysing these things."

He thanked the forwards for “their sterling work in the line-outs”.

“There was calmness on the field‚ especially in the second half because we managed to take a good lead to the break. We didn’t want to give away soft tries or let them back in the game or go into defensive mode.

“That little bit of experience helped‚ we stayed calm and we knew that they had to chase the game‚” said De Jager.

Though Pollard was named man of the match for his sterling work with the boot‚ Specman’s two early tries set the tone for the victory. Human said the SA Sevens star has the X-factor.

“It is unbelievable to have a player like Rosko in our team‚” he said. “I knew we needed someone like him and he proved that he has the X-factor that the Bulls need because last year [2018] we played some good rugby at times and lacked a finisher.

Specman said he did not expect to score two tries in his Super Rugby debut.

“I didn’t think that I would play like this on my debut. We did good work up front and I knew that if their defence retreats spaces will open.

“They created spaces for me and my job as a winger is to finish and I did that.

“It was not difficult to adjust to this level of rugby because last year I played for the Cheetahs in the Pro 14 and I always wanted to play Super Rugby‚” said Specman.