Bulls coach Johan Ackermann expressed a mixture of pride, frustration, and disappointment after his team’s narrow 22-26 loss to Munster at Thomond Park at the weekend.
While he lauded his team’s defensive resilience and fighting spirit, he lamented poor tactical execution, costly unforced errors, and frustrating officiating calls.
Ackermann admitted that his team did not help themselves with their high error count, including 19 turnovers.
He added Munster scored some ‘soft tries’ off the Bulls’ errors.
However, it is the failure of technology which seemed to frustrate him most.
“Unfortunately, there were an incident or two that were missed by the TMO,” Ackermann said.
“One should have been a penalty and another a line-out, but they missed it, and it ended up in a scrum for Munster.
“It resulted in a scrum for Munster.
“The consequences were points for Munster.
“It is a pity that ‘technology’ still gets it wrong.”
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The Bulls coach expressed his ‘disappointment’ with the fact that his team so easily could have secured a win, but if they managed to execute a couple of plays more accurately.
“Maybe decision-making in terms of kicking and the passing game; there were times that we should have passed that we kicked or vice versa, that we forced the pass but we should have kicked.
“I felt that we played a lot of the game in the wrong areas, because of our own errors, or maybe some penalties.
#However, I’m proud, especially in the first part of the game, of how we really defended well, and then there were still parts in the second half that they could have easily run away.”
Injuries to key players could also play a role as they start preparations for their Round Three Trans-Jukskei derby with the Lions at Loftus Versfeld this coming Saturday.
Captain Marcell Coetzee, wing Thaakir Abrahams, centre Stravino Jacobs and replacement hooker Janco Uys will all undergo scans on Monday, after picking up knocks at Thomond Park.
He added that the loss is not the end of the world, because the season is a ‘marathon, not a sprint’.
@JanDKrugby
