In a match that left the Vodacom Bulls licking their wounds, the fallout from their quarter-final loss to Edinburgh has brought the spotlight sharply onto one key area: the set piece.
At the heart of the Bulls’ engine room, lock Ruan Nortje stood up in a press conference this week to reflect on the team’s performance — particularly the lineout, which operated at just 80% success, a stat well below the standards of a team known for its structured dominance.
Pressed by Renaldo Bothma about the lineout struggles, Nortje didn’t shy away.
It was frustrating,” Nortje admitted. “Our lineout is a big part of our game where we look to implement ourselves and build momentum. In the first half especially, it was just small things — a skew throw, a missed lift, a knock-on — but those fundamentals cost us.”
In a game of inches, such details matter. Every botched lineout handed Edinburgh not just possession, but psychological momentum. It fed their confidence, compounded the Bulls’ pressure, and disrupted the rhythm the Pretoria side relies on.
Each time we don’t get ascendancy, it’s more pressure,” said Nortje. “We weren’t good enough, and that’s something we as players take on the chin.”
Those words carry weight. Nortje is known not only for his leadership and work ethic, but also as a set-piece technician who spends countless hours perfecting lineout timing and calls. When he admits fault, it’s not finger-pointing — it’s accountability.
But there’s no time to sulk. With a daunting trip to Limerick on the horizon, the Bulls are already shifting focus to the weekend’s clash against a formidable Munster side. Nortje was clear-eyed about the task ahead.
We’ve just got to sort out the small, fundamental stuff,” he said. “Tempo is a big focus. Against Edinburgh, we sometimes slowed things down too much — maybe because of the pressure. We need to speed it up and be more clinical.”
There’s no doubt the breakdown will be a battlefield. Munster’s forward pack thrives on disrupting opposition ball and forcing errors. It’s an area where the Bulls — who conceded 19 turnovers last weekend — will need to be razor-sharp.
We know Irish teams, and Munster especially, are masters at the breakdown,” Nortje noted. “That’s going to be a massive focus this week.”
Still, there are positives to build on. Nortje highlighted that the Bulls’ maul is performing well, and the team remains confident in their ability to dominate physically when execution aligns with intention.
We’re pretty happy with how we’re mauling at the moment. We just want to keep building on that.”
As the Bulls head into a crucial week of preparation, the sense is clear: this team is not looking for excuses — only solutions. And for fans, that’s something to rally behind.
In a sport that often hinges on execution under pressure, the Bulls’ honesty and hunger to improve are signs of a team that’s still very much in the fight. Saturday’s battle against Munster will be brutal — but don’t count this Bulls side out just yet.
