It was a rather glum start to the week for the Bulls after their loss to the Sharks, but hooker Johan Grobbelaar says it’s not the time to “feel sorry for each other now” as they look to bounce back in the United Rugby Championship this weekend.
The Pretoria side lost their second game in a row to the Sharks, going down 29-19 at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday after their 20-17 loss at Kings Park in Durban in December.
Grobbelaar and the rest of the Bulls pack dominated the scrums and lineouts, and their powerful mauls played the part in reducing the visitors to 12 players at one stage due to yellow cards for repeated infringements.
But the home side were unable to convert that advantage into enough points, and they went down to a Sharks side that struck with their dangerous outside backs to clinch a memorable victory.
Now the Bulls need to pick up the pieces in Saturday’s showdown with the Lions at Loftus Versfeld (2pm start).
“Of course, not what we wanted at the weekend. All of our standards are high, from the players to the coaches and management, and especially at Loftus, it’s not a nice one to lose,” Grobbelaar said.
“Thank you to all the fans that came out, and we never want to disappoint them. So, it was a rather negative feeling afterwards.
“But I think we all picked each other up quickly, as we can’t feel sorry for each other now. We have to stand up and work on the mistakes, and look forward.
“We will definitely be better this weekend, and the week after against the Stormers.
“Credit to the Sharks – they played a good game against us, and it’s now two in a row: at Loftus, and before that in Durban.
“They were very good under the high ball, and it’s something that let us down. We were good in the set-pieces: scrums were good, mauls were very good.
“We just couldn’t get enough points from that, and it’s something we need to look at. If we had just used more of our opportunities, it could’ve been a different story.
“We lost more against ourselves than being beaten.”
The Lions are in confident mood after beating the Stormers 30-23 at Ellis Park last week, and having won at Loftus Versfeld a few seasons ago, they won’t be daunted by the challenge this weekend either.
“The Lions are playing very good rugby over the last while. We played against them a few weeks ago, and it was a difficult game in Johannesburg,” Grobbelaar said.
“So, we are expecting a big onslaught at Loftus. They beat us here two seasons ago, so we will definitely have to be ready for everything that they will bring.
“Good backline, good pack of forwards, and they are competitive at the breakdowns. So, we will have to put a few plans in place, and I believe it will go better for us this weekend.”