PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 28: Kurt-Lee Arendse of the Bulls with the ball during the United Rugby Championship match between Vodacom Bulls and Munster at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on March 28, 2026 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images)
Bulls coach Johan Ackermann said his team did what they needed to in securing a bonus-point win against Munster in the United Rugby Championship on Saturday, and now their attention turns to the Champions Cup last 16.
The Bulls scraped through to beat Munster 34-31, despite the Irish side fighting back three times after the Bulls went two scores ahead (21-12, 28-19 and 34-26), and almost secured a famous victory at Loftus.
In the end, the Bulls held onto the ball in the final minutes and won four tries to five. Flyhalf Handré Pollard’s perfect goal-kicking (6/6) proved the difference as his opposite, Jack Crowley, missed twice.
The result saw the Bulls put five more points on the log and remain eighth. Munster deserved their two bonus points in defeat but dropped one place to seventh.
Bulls underperformed as a team
“We left a lot of points left out there,” Ackermann said. “There were two or three big moments where we could have scored, and we didn’t.
“We had a lot of turnovers that we could have turned into really good tries or at least good field position, and we don’t utilise that.”
The Bulls coach praised Pollard’s kicking and the team’s confidence in him taking two long-range penalty kicks when they could have gone for lineouts.
Also, Embrose Papier’s two tries and a turnover, along with Cheswill Jooste’s individual try, showed the players’ quality.
“Every team has special players who can do something out of nothing. Embrose showed it today, when he gets space, he’s dangerous, and the same with Cheswill.
“But as a team, we create opportunities and then we don’t finish them.”
The Bulls coach spoke of miscommunication in the aerial contest, which saw the team failing to secure easy kicks.
“It’s more the fact that we give soft penalties away. Then they kick it down, and you have to defend it, and then you knock it on when you do get the turnover.”
Still, he said earning five points against the URC’s 2022/23 winners, who have reached the playoffs every other year, was the “biggest box we can tick”.
Bulls have ‘nothing to lose’ in Champions Cup last 16
Ackermann said the Bulls would have a light training session on Monday before flying to Scotland the same day, ahead of their Champions Cup last-16 match against Glasgow Warriors.
“We need to be better than today, because they will punish you if we make the same defensive errors,” the coach said, adding that Glasgow probably have the best attacking side in the competition.
“We’ve got nothing to lose. We’re going to go there, go hard and give ourselves an opportunity. If we go further, that’s great, and then we take it from there.”
Should the Bulls win at Scotstoun on Saturday, they will play in a quarter-final the following week.
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