The Bulls can simply not afford any more losses if they want to give themselves a proper chance of winning this years United Rugby Championship title, according to former player Schalk Brits, who represented the Pretoria-based team in 2019, in the lead up to the World Cup.
Brits also played for the Stormers for many years as well as Saracens in London and was speaking at a URC round table about the prospects of the Bulls and Stormers in this years competition.
Currently, with three regular season games remaining, the Bulls are fourth with 51 points, while the Stormers are fifth with 45 points.
The top eight teams will qualify for the playoffs, with the top four, crucially, featuring at home in those quarter-finals.
Crunch-time for BullsBrits says this weekends match between the Bulls and table-toppers Glasgow Warriors (2pm) at Loftus Versfeld is a huge one for Jake White and his charges.
They are playing Glasgow this weekend at home. This is the big game. For them to lose this one would be massive, said Brits.
Its going to be quite hot and humid at altitude in Pretoria, which makes it really hard to play the Bulls there. And, Jake White is a coach that likes momentum and he will want to build momentum going into the play-off games.
But Brits said he had high hopes for the Bulls, who play Benetton (at home) and the Sharks (away) in their final two games.
I like where the Bulls are sitting, he said.
Stormers chancesRegarding the Stormers, who won the title in the first season of the URC and were runners-up last season, Brits said John Dobsons team would have to sharpen up if they are to make three finals in a row.
The Stormers are making mistakes in crucial moments, he said. Although they have got lots of talent, sometimes you just need experience, the cooler heads and then you make better decisions.
For me, rugby is about compounding pressure. When there are more experienced players on the pitch, you tend to make better decisions with pressure. They have had injuries in one or two crucial positions and there have been some crucial kicks that havent gone over, but thats just how the cookie crumbles.
With them playing abroad now for the next two weeks, its a bit harder.
The Stormers face the Dragons (away) this weekend and then Connacht (away) and the Lions (home) in their final two games.
Brits though knows Dobson and Co have a way of producing the goods when it matters.
What John Dobson has done is bring happiness to Cape Town. The players are having a good time, said Brits.
I would rather let them be average during the year and get to the final and win a trophy, than being great all year and not winning anything.
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