Jake White's Bulls switch focus to URC after Champions Cup disappointment

The Pretoria franchise travelled to France this past weekend to face Castres Olympique, where they slumped to a 49-10 defeat. The Bulls were well in the game - just three points adrift - as the final quarter approached. But the hosts found their groove and ran in five unanswered tries to secure a resounding win.

The Bulls languish at the bottom of Group 3 on zero points with just one round - against Stade Francais - left to play before the knockouts.

"I think it is done because we've got no points and every other team has points," reflected a dejected Bulls boss Jake White after the loss.

"It is only Stade Francais that is an option. We can't catch Castres even if we beat them, so I think the Champions Cup is over for us.

"It is one thing about the campaign and Champions Cup. You've seen it with all the teams when you get it wrong.

"Stade Francais beat Northampton and they are second last in the Top 14 and they beat the team that won the Premiership last year.

"It just highlights how difficult it is to advance in this competition. What we are going to do is worry about our performance in the next week and make sure we get momentum going into the United Rugby Championship."

Focus on the loss, White alluded to the long break the players had over the festive season.

"This team hasn't played," he added.

"We were off for three weeks. Whoever I brought was going to be three weeks shy of a game. Castres played last weekend in the Top 14.

"We are never going to play through Christmas, it is the way it is. Whatever team I brought would probably still have struggled to find the rhythm,"

"We were chasing four tries to get a point out of that game and we were playing lots of rugby and we were trying to score as many tries as we could. But we probably shot ourselves in the foot, because as soon as we turned it over, they went and scored the other side."

The Bulls have been impressive in the URC, currently sitting in fourth on the table with five wins from their seven outings.   

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