Bulls coach reflects on miserable night in Lyon

The Pretoria franchise has proved nearly unstoppable in the confines of their beloved Loftus Versveld, but touring seems to be another issue altogether. In recent times, the Bulls lost away to the Exeter Chiefs, Sharks, Stormers and now Lyon.

Admittedly, having played in near heat-wave conditions at home just six days before, the snow falling from the heavens and the harsh 4G pitch created completely alien conditions to men accustomed to plakkies and boerewors.

Lyon dominated the visitors in virtually every facet of the game, earning multiple turnovers and more than competing at scrum time. In the end, the Bulls only had an intercept try from Springbok flyer Kurt-Lee Arendse to celebrate in the 31-7 defeat.

"For us, it was our first encounter in France," reflected Rossouw on rugby365.com.

"We came up against a French side that was playing at home and it was completely different. You can look at the conditions and travel as an excuse. It was extremely cold and the snow came down towards the end, but the reality is that the conditions weren't that bad in the end.

"Put that aside, we conceded too many penalties that put us under pressure and had too many technical errors.

"In the first half, it was 11 penalties conceded and in the second half, we brought that down to five. We came back well in the second half - take my hat off to the guys - but put ourselves under immense pressure at the beginning of the match and that showed on the scoreboard.

"It's extremely difficult to win in France. If you want to win here, you have to be clinical, be brave and take your opportunities. We had the opportunity. We also need to adapt better to playing on artificial turf."

Fortunately for the Bulls, who needed to bonus-point win to secure their place in the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16, Gloucester's win over Bordeaux resulted in the Bulls qualifying for the knockout stages.