Bulls boss Jake White believes the confidence gained from beating Munster and Glasgow could help if the Bulls play the sides in the play-offs.
Bulls director of rugby Jake White said he is using his upcoming United Rugby Championship (URC) league games against Munster and Glasgow as yardsticks to measure their readiness for the play-offs the top eight sides in the competition will play in from 30 May.
White selected an almost-full-strength team to play against Munster in their league game on Saturday (kick-off 6.15pm), even though his side is almost guaranteed a quarter-final spot.
The Bulls sit third on the log with 10 wins from 14 matches and lie just four points below second-placed Glasgow.
The Scottish side won the tournament last year, beating the Bulls 21–16 in the final at Loftus, while Munster beat the Stormers 19–14 to win the 2022/23 title.
Bulls may play Munster twice
White said the Bulls needed a win against Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick, not just for the points but for confidence, believing they may face the Irish side again in the play-offs, and possibly again at home.
“We will have to play well to beat them, like Bordeaux did last week [in the Champions Cup quarter-final in France],” White said.
“They have been around the play-offs every year, whether they started badly or well. So I expect nothing will change. We will have to match them in the things they do well and be tactically aware of the things they don’t like. Because if you get the things they like against you, they are very good at it.”
He said he expected Munster to want to rebound after their loss to Union Bordeaux Bègles, but said the Bulls must do the same following their own Challenge Cup quarter-final exit that came from a 34–28 loss to Edinburgh last weekend.
Bulls going all-out to win the URC
“We are trying to win this competition and we believe we can. To do so, we have to be able to beat Munster in Munster, Glasgow in Glasgow and Leinster in Leinster.”
White was proud to say his side had been the first to beat Leinster this season, and the first to beat Bayonne at home.
Aside from their poor European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) tournament campaigns (Champions Cup and Challenge Cup), the Bulls had accomplished much this season and were going all-out to win the URC.
