Wing Sebastian de Klerk said that the Bulls are ‘not panicking’ after the defeat to the Sharks. Photo: BackpagePix
Whenever a team pull off a big win, it is easy to get carried away with the result – even the performance wasn’t necessarily outstanding.
In the same breath, the Bulls are being careful not to reinvent the wheel entirely ahead of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld (2pm start), following last week’s 29-19 loss to the Sharks in Pretoria.
Wing Sebastian de Klerk wasn’t involved in the Sharks encounter, but came off the bench the previous week in the 33-32 win over the Stormers in Cape Town, where he made a real impact out wide.
He will hope to be involved against the Lions again this weekend, having been a regular starter for most of the season.
That may depend on where Canan Moodie is selected this week, as the Springbok utility back was at No 14 against the Stormers and Lions, with Sergeal Petersen at No 11.
Having watched the Sharks game from the sidelines, the 25-year-old De Klerk believes that the Bulls can address their defensive errors out wide, which the dangerous Lions backline will also look to exploit.
They have some serious strike-runners in the shape of Quan Horn, Edwill van der Merwe and Henco van Wyk, who are all capable of beating their opponents in one-on-one battles.
“The Lions are a very good team, with very good outside backs. (Last) weekend (in their win over the Stormers), there were three or four times where Quan (Horn) got the ball, always beating the first defender,” De Klerk said on Tuesday.
“From the Sharks game... there were just some defensive errors – whether it was individually, system-wise, not everyone on the same page.
“If you switch off for a bit at this level, they will exploit that. We are working hard to do the things we know we can control. We don’t want to give away those soft tries again this weekend.
“We are not panicking. You are not going to win every game and you are going to make mistakes.
“I think it’s good to lose from time to time... It just gives you a bit of a new perspective, and you are forced to look at different things as opposed to when you win.”
De Klerk also backed Springbok veteran Willie le Roux to produce the goods at flyhalf, following a difficult outing against the Sharks.
Bulls coach Jake White has to make the big call this week about whether to continue with Le Roux as a stop-gap measure at No 10 in the absence of the injured Johan Goosen, or call on a specialist flyhalf in Boeta Chamberlain or Jaco van der Walt against the Lions.
“Personally, I haven’t played a game with Willie at 10, but I feel that he is actually well equipped for that position,” said De Klerk, who added that he was “over the moon” about his call-up to the Springbok alignment camp in March.
“He has an unbelievable vision for the kicking game, he understands momentum. Maybe the last game just reflected badly, as we lost in a lot of other places, like the kicking game.
“Then it’s easy to look for faults and say Willie is playing out of position. But when he is at 15, how many times doesn’t he pop up in the 10 channel?
“When he is on the field, you just have a more relaxed atmosphere as he has a way in keeping the guys calm, and doing and saying the right thing at the right time.
“I can’t stress enough how important Willie is for the Bulls. He is someone who gets a lot of criticism, and definitely too little praise for everything he’s done for our country and at the Bulls.
“When Jake speaks about Willie being a coach, it’s not that he physically coaches us, but rather how he is able to identify space and tell you to do things that he – out of experience – knows will work.
“Sometimes when he tries things and it doesn’t come off, then it doesn’t come off. But every single rugby player does that – I do it too, and I make as many mistakes.
“But because Willie is so good, I think people just tend to look a bit more at his errors than all the other things he does 100 percent.”
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