Jake White: Bulls have 'massive amounts of confidence' facing Stormers

Bulls director of rugby Jake White is pleased that his side are improving with every passing week of their Super Rugby Unlocked campaign where they are placed top of the pile after three rounds of matches.

The Bulls started with a win over the Griquas but they were brought down to earth in their second match by the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein and they bounced back in style with an impressive thrashing of the Sharks last weekend.

“What we want to focus on is just to get better and better, I think what was so nice last weekend was the fact that we are improving in everything every week,” he said as the Bulls prepared to host their visitors in the anticipated North versus South derby.

“Whether it’s been discipline, whether it’s been breakdown, whether it’s been scrumming and mauling, I just think that little by little we are getting more and more confident in every area. We know that we are probably going to have to get a lot of things right this week against a quality team like the Stormers with a quality pack of forwards.

“When you asked me earlier when we are going to click, I said I would like to click sooner rather than later and to be fair it was a good performance from us last weekend against the Sharks, and there is obviously massive amounts of confidence.”

Over the years, the Bulls and the Stormers have often produce high intensity clashes and White is expecting a tough game from their bitter rivals from the Mother City.

“I am also a realist in terms of the fact that the a match against the Stormers is always a tough. It is the North versus South derby that we heard about this week and there is history between these two teams playing against each other whether between Western Province and Northern Transvaal or the Bulls against the Stormers.

“It is exactly the same intensity, so I am hoping that we can build on what we did last week. I also appreciate the fact that it is a different challenge for us completely.”