Bulls coach Jake White gave a bizarre, sarcastic, post-media interview following his side’s 18-13 United Rugby Championship final defeat to rivals the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Leading 7-3 at half time after a Harold Vorster try gave them an early lead, the Bulls could only two Chris Smith penalty conversions in the second half as the Stormers scored 15 points via Evan Roos and Andre-Hugo Venter touchdowns and a Manie Libbok drop goal to win the inaugural URC trophy.
It was the third time the Stormers had beaten their rivals in the tournament this season, with White’s manne also on the receiving end of a 30-26 defeat at Loftus and a 19-17 loss in the Mother City during the round-robin phase of the competition.
But White was not a happy man after the final whistle and says of Andrew Brace’s officiating: “I thought the ref was outstanding, he saw what he saw. I couldn’t control the other things…
“You guys could work it out yourselves. I’m not going to get into it, there were a lot of things that we couldn’t control, the ref only saw what he saw and that’s all you want a ref to do - he sees what he sees.”
He adds: “From a rugby point of view, I think we maybe should have been up more [in the first half]. We had so much territory there and we couldn’t finish, and as I said the referee saw what he saw. I’m happy with that. If he saw certain things on the field and he blew it like that, I’m happy with that.
#STOvBUL
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) June 18, 2022
FT: That's the end of an incredible Vodacom URC Grand Final. The DHL Stormers take the win and the title. Well done, gentlemen.#TrueToTheBlue @Vodacom #URC @URCOfficial_RSA pic.twitter.com/41kGUztak1
“This hurts a bit. I get the feeling we were probably out of it the whole time, for little things.”
Penalised nine times to six and also having Cornal Hendricks yellow carded for a high tackle in the second half, it was the battle at the breakdown that ultimately proved crucial in the tie.
We will be back, stronger ✊#TrueToTheBlue pic.twitter.com/rhXNs85ZME
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) June 19, 2022
The Stormers made seven turnovers to the Bulls’ five, with the Man of the Match award going to Stormers flanker Deon Fourie.
Of this battle, White says: “It wasn’t just Deon [Fourie] it was Kitsie [Steven Kitshoff] as well, I thought he was outstanding at the breakdown as well. You don’t want to sound like a whinger and I’ve got to teach my players to be humble when we lose, now I sit here and wanna be a whinger.
“There were a couple of times when they missed the ball and came back and got rewarded, that’s fine if the referee sees that, that’s great. I don’t think you guys are understanding, there are things I can never control, if I can control those things then we’ll win.”
The defeat completed a miserable weekend for the Bulls, with their Currie Cup side also losing 30-19 to Griquas in the semifinal.