Frustrated Ackermann slams Bulls' elementary errors in defeat to Bordeaux

Bulls coach Johan Ackermann was frustration personified after his team imploded in the second half of their Champions Cup clash against Bordeaux at Loftus Versfeld, losing 46-33 after having led 33-22 at half-time.

Ackermann was annoyed that his team let the game “slip through our fingers”. The Bulls blew hot and cold while repeatedly giving the French side an advantage through poor discipline.

It was the Bulls’ third consecutive defeat, following United Rugby Championship losses to Glasgow and the Lions.

Ackermann was disappointed that after scoring five tries in the first half, his team could not muster a single point in the second, while Bordeaux scored 24 unanswered points, crossing for seven tries.

The visitors started the game strongly, with an enterprising backline producing some spectacular tries, but the Bulls showed resolve to bounce back and looked in control by halftime.

“We look so good at moments, and then we look average,” Ackermann said.

“If you can score tries but keep leaking tries, you’re not going to win. That’s the frustrating part. The inconsistency in all our areas is challenging at the moment.

"We let it slip through our fingers because of a lack of discipline and individual errors. Our defence must sharpen up. There’s a lot of hard work ahead.”

Ackermann lamented his team’s knack for undoing good work with errors.

“Sometimes it is an individual mistake, and sometimes it is a system mistake,” he said. "And it’s not consistent.

"There are quality players making mistakes. And that’s the thing — you saw in the past they didn’t make those mistakes. It must be frustrating for people on the outside because it’s frustrating for us.

The coach said some errors were elementary and should not have happened at this level.

“Like losing a kick-off, or we knock a ball, or we know they will come at the breakdown, but we don’t secure it, and then they get a turnover. Those small things have a high cost. Last week it happened against the Lions, and this week it happens again.”

In the second half, life was made easier for Bordeaux when David Kriel and Handré Pollard were both yellow-carded for slapping down passes.

Ackermann added: “On the one hand, we had a good offload from Harold Vorster to Reinhardt Ludwig, and we scored a brilliant try.

"Then Embrose Papier tries to get the ball away to Canan Moodie, and he is about to catch it, but it is snapped up by Bordeaux scrumhalf Maxime Luca, and they go all the way to the other end of the field and score. That’s the frustrating part. We are there and then not there.”

The Bulls have now lost four of their seven games this season, after having won their first two.

“We need to pull ourselves together and ask ourselves how we can improve rather than point fingers,” Ackermann concluded.