Bulls take loss to Lyon in their stride

Bulls assistant coach Chris Rossouw has stressed that their 31-7 loss against Lyon in the Champions Cup on Friday does not take away the progress they have made in phe last three weeks. 

The Bulls were not able to front up to Lyon, they were dismantled by the French side’s big forwards in their first game in France. The jitters of playing in front of a hostile home crowd got to the Bulls as they committed many errors and conceded penalties in the first half, which eventually put them on the back foot. 

Accounting for the loss, Rossouw noted how Lyon was a different outfit on home soil and emphasised that the defeat should not wash over the progress the team has made in the past few weeks. The Pretoria outfit won back-to-back matches against the Dragons and Exeter Chiefs before going down to Lyon. 

“If you look back on the past three weeks, it’s probably the only blemish on our performances. It must not take away the perspective of where the team is and the growth we’ve shown over the last three weeks,” said Rossouw when speaking to the media.

“This was our first encounter in France. A French team on home soil is completely different. They can use the conditions. There is also the travel. It was extremely cold but the reality is the conditions weren’t that bad,” he said. 

The loss did manage to put the Bulls’ chances of making it to the Round of 16 in jeopardy, however they did do enough to secure their place in the knockout stage by finishing in seventh place with ten points, thanks to their two wins at home. 

The Pretoria side will now turn their attention to the United Rugby Championship, they will take on the Scarlets on Friday at Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli, Wales. Rossouw said his charges would take some of the positives from the Lyon loss to their encounter against the Scarlets, where they're likely to play in a 4G pitch. 

“We’ll take out the positives and use them on our journey going to Scarlets,” he said. 

“The pitch mustn’t be an excuse, we just need to look after the ball better in terms of presentation. The Scarlets have been on a good run in the last five games. They only had one loss against Leinster. For us it’s another challenge,” Rossouw said. 

Meanwhile, there was also progression to the last 16 in the Champions Cup for the Sharks and Stormers.