The Vodacom Bulls opened their VURC campaign in emphatic fashion with a 47-13 victory over Zebre in Parma last night, but coach Johan Ackermann believes there is still plenty of room for improvement ahead of next week’s clash against Munster.
After a convincing six-try win on the road, Ackermann admitted there had been nerves heading into the season opener, particularly given the limited game time available to his squad during pre-season.
“The biggest thing we take is the fact that we got away with the win,” Ackermann said.
“Last year is still in your memory and we lost the first two games at home, so we were always nervous. We haven’t played a lot of warm-up games. I think there was only about 40 minutes of game time in each player that played tonight, so we were a bit nervous that we might not be as good as we wanted to be.”
The Vodacom Bulls were guilty of some early inaccuracies but managed to weather the storm and gradually took control of proceedings.
“Although we had a good build-up with the guys, we made some sloppy errors in those first few minutes,” Ackermann said. “That’s the part we must correct because Munster will bring a different challenge. If we’re not accurate in our entries or exits in the 22, they will punish you.”
Despite the mistakes, Ackermann was encouraged by his side’s defensive effort, particularly during a difficult opening quarter.
“We showed a lot of fight in that first 15 minutes where we made a lot of errors and still kept them out,” he said.
“If we had conceded there, it would have given them a lot of energy. For me, that was the positive. Against a tough opponent, in a tough place to come to after the travel, the guys showed a lot of fight on defence. We will enjoy the performance tonight, especially defensively.”
The Vodacom Bulls’ set-piece also earned praise from the coach, who was particularly pleased with the contribution of his lock combination (Ruan Vermaak and Reihardt Ludwig) following the departure of former stalwart Ruan Nortje.
“I think our line-outs were good. We won almost all our line-outs apart from one in the corner,” Ackermann said.
Ackermann also highlighted the contribution of his tight five, although he believes there is still work to do in the scrum.
“The tight five played really well and put in a lot of hard yards,” he said.
“We had reasonable success in our own line-outs and we stole a couple of balls, so that’s good. The scrum was a bit mixed. We started very well in the first half and then in the second half we conceded a few penalties.
“That’s a big work-on for us. You’re not always going to have the luxury of a scoreboard like tonight, so that’s something we can really improve.”
There was also praise for the Vodacom Bulls debutants, particularly flyhalf Curwin Bosch, who impressed in his first outing for the Pretoria side.
“It was his first game for the Vodacom Bulls and he controlled the game well,” Ackermann said.
“He kicked very well out of hand and slotted all his goal kicks. He hasn’t played for a couple of weeks because of injury, so to come out under pressure in your first game is a good base to build from. Hopefully it will just get better as the season progresses.”
The only injury concern from the match centres around replacement prop Mornay Smith, who twisted an ankle during the game.
“There’s a few knocks and bruises that must be checked out, but hopefully it’s nothing serious,” Ackermann said.
“The only concern is Mornay. He twisted his ankle and we’re a little bit nervous about the outcome of that. It’s too soon now to say what the extent of the injury is, but over the next day or so the medical staff will assess him.”
Next up is a trip to Limerick to face Munster, a challenge Ackermann expects to be considerably tougher than the one his team faced in Italy.
“Limerick is a tough place to play,” he said.
“The conditions are going to change quite drastically. We’ve had beautiful weather in Italy and tonight it was around 24 or 25 degrees when we kicked off. Next week it will probably be rain and a temperature drop.
“Then you’ve got the hostile crowd. I heard they lost, so they’re going to be really fired up. It’s a team that’s constantly in the playoffs and constantly near the top of this competition.
“They’re going to bring a totally different challenge from tonight, so we have to reset, recover from a long day of travel and get the boys ready to play.”
For now, though, Ackermann and his players can take satisfaction from an opening-round performance that delivered both a bonus-point win and valuable momentum heading into one of the toughest away fixtures on the schedule.
