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Over the weekend it became (even more) abundantly clear…..my poor team is in desperate need of a game plan. Nothing spectacular or overcomplicated, just a simple, easy to understand, back to basics game plan would suffice. This is the Bulls we’re talking about after all, they can’t do overcomplicated even if their (Currie Cup) lives depended on it….and it does.
The Bulls have largely been renowned as a “kicking team”, playing 10 man rugby. Either the scrumhalf or the flyhalf kicks for territory and field position and then the ball is predominantly kept amongst the forwards, easy, no mess no fuss type of rugby….not very pretty, but very effective. Or at least it was very effective. This game plan just won’t cut the mustard, not because it’s outdated, no, rather because the Bulls simply do not have the players capable of enforcing this type of game plan anymore. Gone are the days of the rampaging pack of forwards that decimated everything in its path, gone are the days of a kicking halfback pair that could get that pack of forwards deep in the oppositions’ half with pin point accuracy, gone are the days of winning trophies is seems to.
Now, by no means am I suggesting this is the only way to win trophies. The Province team surely isn’t going to win this seasons’ Currie Cup by following the “Bulls game plan”…they will most likely take the honors this season by doing what it is that they do best, basically the opposite of what the Bulls do, and so be it. Each team in the competition has their own strengths and they should stick to them…..but what if your previous strength has become a weakness…what to do then? How do you suddenly change your way of playing the game after decades of playing it in a set way? Simple, you don’t.
At least the current coaching staff at the Bulls have come to the realization that things have to change. As they say…the first step to recovery is admitting there is a problem. With the current recruits, the old way of approaching the game has gone. Okay so Frans Ludeke has seen change is needed and to his credit, he has begun to try and introduce a new way of playing, it’s not working presently, but at least he has taken the first step. Nick Mallet summed it up perfectly after the Bulls Sharks game on Saturday. “They have never played a 15-man, phase play, co-ordinated type of game plan. The players don't really know where to run. They have backline players cleaning rucks and forwards playing flyhalf. There's a whole strategy of playing attacking rugby using all 15 players and they don't really understand how to do that. I think that's where the problem comes in, they're between two stools at the moment."
According to Mallet the big problem is that the players still have to learn how to play the new game plan, I agree completely with him and considering myself to be a realistic person, I accept that adapting an age old mentality will take some time. That being said, I do not understand why the change is only being made now, when the same message was sent out to the coach during the Super Rugby competition. Not by only South African commentators mind you, both the Aussies and New Zealanders got on the band wagon and questioned the way the Bulls were playing. Maybe Frans should have listened then…….
But, no use in crying over spilt Guinness, at least there are some efforts being made to ensure the Bulls have a change of mentality…just hope the players start to understand what they have to do and, more importantly, start doing it on Saturdays.
