Johan Ackermann: Bulls paid the price for 80 minutes of catch-up rugby against Bristol

Playing catch-up rugby for 80 minutes in a must-win clash was never going to end well for the Bulls, and it ultimately led to their demise against the Bristol Bears in their second-last Champions Cup pool encounter in Pretoria on Saturday.

That, according to coach Johan Ackermann, was the biggest stumbling block they encountered as his side suffered a seventh straight defeat in all competitions, losing 61-49. They have a mammoth task ahead of them to get out of this slump and Saturday's performance does not suggest that things will get better anytime soon.

Bristol fired almost from the first whistle and scored four tries after 15 minutes of play. That meant the home team had to chase the game and under immense pressure their star-studded side faltered.

“We started badly and that set the tone,” Ackermann said.

“Then we had to play catch-up for 80 minutes, and suddenly the good work you did during the game doesn’t look so good because the result doesn’t reflect it. This hurts more than a normal loss. It’s not a case where we can fault the commitment of the players. We can’t say it is an attitude problem. The guys knew how important this game was.

“Because if I look at the week’s preparation and how well the players trained, the intensity was good. We were positive after last week’s performance even though it was a loss. I wish I could give the exact answer of why things went wrong.”

Ackermann lamented the basic errors his side made, especially at the start where they tackled a player in the air for a penalty. Then, after Bristol opened the scoring, flyhalf Handré Pollard’s kickoff didn’t travel the required 10 meters and a penalty was conceded for offside when a box kick didn’t go far enough to put the players at the breakdown onside.

The coach, for a second week in a row, said the 50-50 situations also did not go their way. He defended his players’ errors, especially the senior guys, who were responsible for intercept and loose passes, poor handling and taking the wrong options on the attack. The defence of the Bulls, especially in the first half, also leaked far too many points.

“No player goes out to make mistakes and to play badly or miss tackles. But when you’re chasing the scoreboard, you start to force things. We play a lot of rugby against ourselves with the mistakes we make and we give away possession.

“You start to force offloads, trying things you wouldn’t normally do, even senior players feel the pressure. That’s when you play a bit out of character. However, I’m not giving up on the players. It is up to us to fix things, no one else is coming. We can only control what we can. And that is how we conduct ourselves under the pressure and adversity.”

The Bulls travel to Pau this week for their final Champions Cup pool match as they look to secure a victory to turn things around. They have an outside chance of qualifying for the Round of 16 if they win with a bonus point and prevent Pau from claiming any points from the match. The Loftus side also need the Scarlets to lose against Saints in their final match in England.