Despite the second-half blowout, White believed it was the right lesson for his crew.
Bulls director of rugby Jake White was in a philosophical temper on Tuesday morning when he admitted that his crew had been deservedly overwhelmed by an internationally seasoned Leinster crew within the United Rugby Championship (URC) on the weekend.
In the sport on the RDS Arena in Dublin the Bulls put in a battling first-half efficiency to lead 14-12 on the break, earlier than Leinster threw on a number of Irish internationals within the second half and powered away for an enormous 47-14 win.
It was billed as a ‘Test’ match between the 2 prime sides within the URC however ended up being a one-sided thumping for the hosts, who underlined their credentials as the most effective franchise groups in world rugby.
Putting it in perspective
Far from being despondent, White completely put the loss into perspective when he defined precisely how tough that Leinster crew are to beat.
“Things must be put in perspective. A lot of guys have asked me what happened. 14-12 up, I thought we had played quite nicely. But then they brought on (Tadgh) Furlong, (Caelin) Doris, (Jamison) Gibson-Park, (Dan) Sheehan and the list just went on,” stated White.
“Not taking something away from the gamers that I’ve, as a result of that’s what we have now. It was a very good measurement for us as a bunch.
“This tournament has been going for three years. We lost our very first (URC) game against them 31-3 at the Aviva Stadium. If I look back three years, I think we have grown a lot as a group. We have added a lot of quality players to our squad.”
White continued: “But the truth is within the final three seasons the majority of their (Leinster’s) gamers would have performed in three Six Nations (for Ireland) and gained two of them; performed within the World Cup; overwhelmed each the Boks and All Blacks twice; performed in two European Cup finals in opposition to La Rochelle.
“So if you just analyse, without being emotional about it, the development over the past three years for a squad like that is almost unheard of. And when you get pressure like that in big games, and are exposed to that intensity and opposition, it can only make you better.”
Perfect lesson
Despite the second-half blowout White believed it was the right lesson for his crew and the gamers would be taught rather a lot from the encounter going ahead.
If they may maintain their group collectively over the approaching years and proceed enhancing, he felt they’d develop into a way more formidable crew sooner or later.
“We played alright in the first half and stayed in the fight. They went up a few gears in the second half and scored quickly. I think what we learnt there is that we still have a long way to go in terms of time together,” stated White.
“People ask me what we need and I say I need time. I need these gamers to develop in these positions. One of the issues I deliberately did was put the entire bench on so they may really feel the depth of what it looks like when a crew has acquired you by the throat.
“We will be better for that going forward. I need this group to keep growing over the next few years and the way to do that is to put them in pressure situations like that and see if they sink or swim.”
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