Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Jake White takes aim at SA Rugby after Bulls win

Vodacom Bulls head coach Jake White before the United Rugby Championship match between Ulster and Vodacom Bulls at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White admits that he is frustrated with SA Rugby over their lack of communication around travel arrangements for the Champions Cup.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Bulls booked their spot in the last eight with a 59-19 win over Lyon in Saturday’s Round of 16 match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

They will now face the winners of the match between Northampton Saints and Munster in England on Sunday.

Video Spacer

Bulls Director of Rugby tries to ‘put into perspective’ the current status of his team

Video Spacer

Bulls Director of Rugby tries to ‘put into perspective’ the current status of his team

If the Saints win, the Bulls will travel to England over the next few days. A Munster win will ensure that the Bulls will enjoy home comforts in the build-up to their quarterfinal.

Travel issues have been highlighted by SA teams in the past and it seems the Bulls will be facing a logistical nightmare if the Saints secure a victory on Sunday.

Fixture
Investec Champions Cup
Northampton
24 - 14
Full-time
Munster
All Stats and Data

“I am going to wear red the whole day [on Sunday], especially because I haven’t got any travel arrangements from SA Rugby,” White told reporters after Saturday’s win.

“Last time we went to Leinster we had to travel on eight different aeroplanes and I suppose it is going to be the same.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I haven’t got any flight details yet, so either they [SA Rugby] didn’t think we were going to win or they waited for the last minute to book those flights.”

White went on to fire another shot at SA Rugby.

“It’s frustrating, it’s really frustrating. SA Rugby are probably shouting for Munster because then they won’t be exposed on flights out of here.

“Who books a holiday or travels abroad on a Sunday night when you want to leave that week to go to a game with 40 people?

“So yes, it’s Munster because we stay at home and more importantly there will be no eight aeroplanes flying people around the world to arrive at a destination via different places with different buses picking a team up when you are playing what is probably our biggest game this year.”

ADVERTISEMENT

White added: “It can be direct flights if there are seats available, but if you wait until Sunday night and expect to take 40 guys to London, it’s highly unlikely you are going to get it.”

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

1 Comment
J
John 261 days ago

Jake White is right on this. Refundable flights should have been booked as soon as the draw was made. If Munster had won, get the refund. Now they’ll have to pay through the nose for last minute flights.

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

J
JW 4 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

147 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Watch: Springbok Arendse brutally runs straight through defender to score on Dynabours debut Watch: Arendse brutally runs straight through defender
Search