PRETORIA – No team dare goes to Kimberley to face Griquas without a match-winning plan, but it will be even more important to be in the right state of mind on Saturday according to Blue Bulls fullback Divan Rossouw.
Too often teams travelling to Griqua Park have come up short not because their winning blueprint has been found wanting, but more that Griquas seem to grow extra arms and legs, and are seemingly fuelled by the emotions of wanting to claim a big scalp in the Currie Cup.
The Bulls seem like a team still with a winning plan, but it will be critical that they eliminate the little errors that have cost them dearly against the Sharks and Golden Lions in the past two weeks.
“We definitely have all the plans in place, it was literally small mistakes and errors that cost us the game at the end so it is not too big of a concern and things we can fix,” said Rossouw.
“Griquas are a good side especially at home they are a very strong side and emotional. It is always a tough battle and won’t be a walkover so you have to bring your A game like against all the other teams.”
But the Bulls’ plan could quickly go out the window if they don’t rectify their porous one-on-one defence that saw the Lions inflict an unnecessary defeat on them last weekend, but Rossouw is confident that they have learnt their lesson and a week is more than sufficient time to get matters right before heading to Kimberley.
Divan Rossouw and Hendre Stassen of the Blue Bulls are challenged by Rabz Maxwane and Oupa Mohoje of the Cheetahs during their Currie Cup game. Photo: Frikkie Kapp/BackpagePix
“If you look back in Super Rugby that was quite an issue for us in the beginning of the season and we managed to fix that quickly. It is a similar case, last week it was handling errors and we fixed that this weekend and now it’s just slip ups on defence and discipline errors.
“It is not too big a concern and we’ll definitely fix it this week,” Rossouw said.
While the Bulls have built their game particularly in Super Rugby around speed and playing the running game at a high intensity, they also need to be prudent and patient in how they go about in making the best of the possession they have at their disposal.
Often against the Lions, the men in blue committed unforced handling errors and made the incorrect decisions because of their hunger to score tries and catch the opposition napping.
Rossouw says that staying patient in all aspects of the game has been a major focal point for them this week as well.
“That is a big part of the game to keep patience in all aspects of the game. It is definitely a work on for us and a big focus.” Rossouw said.