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The two cards White will pull to entice players back to SA and the Bulls

(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

New Director of Rugby at the Blue Bulls Company Jake White reveals how he plans to take the Pretoria-based franchise from also-rans to genuine contenders.

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White, who signed as Director of Rugby with the Bulls earlier this week, spoke to Elma Smit on the Jaca Breakfast Show.

WATCH: Springbok captain Siyamthanda Kolisi’s message for fans concerning the Covid19 outbreak.

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He made clear that the role of current head coach Pote Human will change as they go forward.

“It works differently in different teams,” he said of his new role, adding: “In this case, there will be a lot more hands-on [from me].”

White also spoke of the “great history” of the Bulls and the talent at his disposal.

“It is an exciting time to get involved at the Bulls,” White said.

He admitted that he is very busy on the recruitment front.

“There is a great opportunity for players who want to return to South Africa,” White said.

He said the challenges presented by the COVID-19 lockdown around the world, players are feeling the “loneliness” of being away from their families and taking a relook.

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“That gives us an opportunity to negotiate with those players before they resign to stay overseas.

“I am hard at work and I am looking to see if some players want to come back.

“Let us not forget that we have the British and Irish Lions tour next year and a lot of players would like to be part of that – even if it is only [playing] for the Bulls against the British and Irish Lions.”

He also speaks about how he plans to align with Rassie Erasmus’s national vision.

Sources: Elma Smit, @jacarandafm & #BullsFamily

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Flankly 2 hours ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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