Bulls

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 16: Schalk Brits of the Vodacom Bulls during the Super Rugby match between Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on February 16, 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images)

Bulls target set piece dominance as key to first win in Argentina

The Bulls have a huge test ahead of them after seeing off the Stormers in week one of Super Rugby.

Bulls

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 16: Schalk Brits of the Vodacom Bulls during the Super Rugby match between Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on February 16, 2019 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images)

Bulls coach Pote Human has isolated forward dominance as they key to his team claiming their first ever away win over the Jaguares.

The Bulls flattened the Stormers in a South African derby in week one but have never beaten the Jaguares in Buenos Aires. The Bulls want to prevent the Jaguares from dominating up front and are also desperate to stop the Argentine’s big ball carriers.

In some ways the match against the Jaguares will take on a similar air to a South African derby with much of the contest set to be an arm wrestle between the forwards, if everything runs to script.

The Bulls however have shown the ability to flip that script, and will almost certainly look to unleash a dangerous backline through Bok flyhalf Handre Pollard.

The coach told a press conference: “We have to put their set piece under pressure. They rely on their forwards, which brings them into the game, and we have to stop them especially their big ball carriers.

“The first four games are very important to us, and this is the second hurdle. Everybody knows the Bulls have never won in Buenos Aires before, and it would be awesome to get that one, and the confidence will be that much higher also winning away from home.”

The Bulls will be mindful that the Jaguares will want to avoid successive home defeats at the outset of Super Rugby 2019 and will not go down easily.

The coach backed his team to get a result in a hostile environment saying they intend to play to their strengths.

He added: “The Jaguares still played well, they were a bit unlucky at times not to get tries, so it is going to be tough. They will be up for it after the loss at home, and they can’t afford to lose another one this early in the season.

“But the guys (Bulls players) got a lot of confidence out of the victory over the Stormers, and we didn’t expect it to go this well, but it was very good for us.

“The Jaguares still played well, they were a bit unlucky at times not to get tries, so it is going to be tough. They will be up for it after the loss at home, and they can’t afford to lose another one this early in the season.

“But the guys got a lot of confidence out of the victory over the Stormers, and we didn’t expect it to go this well, but it was very good for us.”