The Bulls are looking to make a ‘strong statement’ in their final United Rugby Championship tour match against Benetton on Friday, as they look to bounce back from a disappointing loss last week.
Having had two players sent off with red cards in the first fortnight of the European expedition – albeit both being rescinded – the Bulls want to show why they were fancied to reach the 2024-25 play-offs.
Reinhardt Ludwig, tasked with leading the team in the final minutes of last Friday’s loss to the Scarlets, admitted that there is ‘widespread disappointment in the camp with the performance.
“It was challenging to lift the boys,” he said of his spell as captain when Johan Grobbelaar was red-carded.
“However, it was a great learning curve for me as a leader in the team, to make decisions under pressure and keep the boys calm,” he added.
“Unfortunately it is not always easy, and if it was easy, everyone could have been a leader or captain.”
He said ‘brutal honesty’ is sometimes the best way to deal with adversity.
“You have to talk straight to the boys, be honest and tell them it is not good enough.”
He admitted they had a chance to secure a late winner, but let it slip through their fault.
“We can only blame ourselves for the loss,” Ludwig told a media briefing in the build-up to the Round Six encounter with the Italian outfit.
“We weren’t at our best, but it was a great learning curve for us.
“And we know it doesn’t get easier.
“In a month we play Connacht away [in the URC] and then Saracens [in the Champions Cup] and it is also going to rain, also going to be tough, so it was a good learning curve.”
The Bulls also need to address the second-half lapses that plagued them on tour.
(WATCH as the Bulls’ stand-in leader Reinhardt Ludwig explains how he handles the challenges of having the captaincy bestowed upon him….)
In the 29-19 win over Ospreys, the Bulls (from a 26-5 half-time lead) managed just a Boeta Chamberlain penalty in the second half and hung on desperately for the win. The second 40 included a red card and two yellow cards against the Bulls and resulted in them finishing the game with just 12 players on the field.
The outcome was a lot more adverse against Scarlets this past weekend – the one-point (22-23) loss. After a half-an-hour, the Bulls were leading 19-7, but a Chamberlain penalty and another red card were all the contributions to the Bulls’ side of the ‘scoreboard’.
“It is a problem for us,” Ludwig said of their unproductive second-half performances.
He said they pinpointed the issues they have to work of, especially ahead of this week’s face-off with Benetton.
“It is not a mental thing [weakness],” the 22-year-old lock said, adding: “There are some small adjustments that will make a big difference.”
Ludwig said they plan to ‘come back stronger’ from the disappointing loss – their first of the season.
He added that they will ‘revert to their strengths’ to ensure they get back on the winning path.
“The things we must improve on is our set pieces,” he said of a line-out that returned a disappointing 85 percent success rate against Scarlets and the 14 turnovers they conceded.
“It was messy and scrappy and we could not build any momentum from the line-outs.”
Ludwig, a more recent addition to the Bulls’ leadership group, captained his school, Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool, and the Bulls a few times in the Currie Cup.
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