In some ways, Jake White believed it was destiny that his Bulls team would win Saturday’s Currie Cup final against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld.
In a dramatic finish, replacement loose forward Arno Botha scored his second try in the last minute of extra time to clinch a 26-19 victory for the hosts.
The match was suspended for more than half an hour in the opening half due to a threat of lightning, with the score at 6-3 to the Bulls.
A delighted White noted, though, in a post-match TV interview that there was something to read into the fact that the delay began in the 24th minute.
The former Springbok coach said: “This year, we’ve had Covid. Then we had the game stopped for lightning, and it was quite ironic – it was in the 24 minutes when it stopped, and this is the 24th Currie Cup that we’ve won today!
“When we were 6-3 up, they were all very excited, but 10 minutes later, we were 13-9 down. So, it was a very different team talk at half time.”
White praised the tenacity of his reserves, who engineered the turnaround late in the second half.
The likes of Arno Botha, Jan Uys and Embrose Papier added some physicality and spark to a Bulls outfit that battled to match the Sharks’ energy for most of the encounter.
The Bulls forwards defended a series of mauls close to their line with the Sharks leading 19-9 deep into the final quarter.
But they managed to get out of their 22, with Botha scoring his first try to make it 19-16, and then replacement flyhalf Chris Smith landed a penalty to level matters at 19-19 before extra time.
Smith then had a chance to seal the deal with a three-pointer after the hooter had gone, but was unable to slot the ball through the uprights, and the teams had to go to two 10-minutes halves of extra time.
No points were scored in the first 10 minutes, with both Smith and Sharks flyhalf Bosch missing shots at goal.
It was almost time up in the second half of extra time when the Bulls rumbled all the way from their own half into the Sharks 22, and 18 phases later, Botha reached out to score the decisive try.
Sharks coach Sean Everitt expressed his disappointment with the defeat in the post-match press conference, but refused to blame Bosch for his five missed goal-kicks.
Everitt says: “I’m not disappointed that he didn’t kick everything over.
“Like I said during the week, he pulled us out of the trenches, and unfortunately today it didn’t go his way.