Former Vodacom Bulls boss Heyneke Meyer urges Jake White’s team to do what they do best while chasing silverware on two fronts this season.
The Bulls meet Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals on Saturday and are third on the Vodacom URC log having reached the final of the competition twice in the previous three seasons.
In a lengthy interview with News24, Meyer – who recently returned to South Africa after a stint with the Houston SaberCats in the USA – said the Bulls were a better team this season because of their scrum and the quality of their bench.
“The only reason they beat Leinster [at Loftus last month] was because they had six scrum penalties. The game now is you get a scrum; you kick it in the corner, you get the ball back, they get a yellow card, and you score.
“Scrums are such a big part of the game now, which is actually unfair but is a South African strength. What the Bulls didn’t have in the past was an unbelievable scrum, Wilco Louw is playing great rugby.
“The only thing is they’ve got to show that they can do it against another team with a good scrum; then the challenge is they have to find other ways of scoring.”
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However, Meyer warned his old team about trying to evolve their game too much.
“I don’t mean this negatively, but I think the Bulls are playing great rugby, the only thing is sometimes they move away from what makes them the Bulls. When they scrum and drive well, and play typical Bulls rugby, they cream the other teams.
“If they play to their strengths, and not traditional stampkar rugby, they’re a helluva good side. It’s just like South African rugby, if we move away from our strengths we’re not a good side, we play to them and we’re difficult to beat.
“I think they’re on the right track, getting important players back and their set pieces are great – they’ve got a really good side.”
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