Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White has taken inspiration from Masters champion Rory McIlroy going into Friday night’s match against Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.
The teams will meet for the first time since last season’s Vodacom URC final at Loftus, which coach Franco Smith’s Warriors won 21-16 after fighting back from 13-0 down.
Earlier this week, media were requested not to ask Bulls players about last season’s final, which prompted the question “Why?” at White’s press conference on Friday.
“Because we don’t want you, as in the media, writing things with the words ‘revenge’,” White responded.
“I read a wonderful piece the other day about Rory McIlroy, who finally won The Masters after bombing out 14 years ago. That happens in sport.
“When you have an opportunity like we did last season to win the championship at home and we didn’t, then obviously the next time you play the team that beat you in the final there will be that “What if?” question. And that happened with Rory McIlroy in golf.
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“So it’s not a case of whether we’ve moved on or don’t want to talk about revenge. This is a chance for us to see how we do against the champions. Last week we played the champions from two seasons ago [Munster] and this week we play last season’s champions.
“Rory McIlroy would have said every year [since his 2011 heartbreak] that The Masters is something he let slip and he would like to get that opportunity back. Now I know we don’t win the championship this weekend because that championship is gone. But any sportsman or team that competes at the highest level will always say that next time we play them, we need to make sure we play well and beat them.”
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⚔️ THE REVENGE MATCH 🐂
It’s a repeat of last year’s Grand Final in Round 16, with the @GlasgowWarriors set to play host to @BlueBullsRugby 🔥
Who will come out on top this weekend 👀 #BKTURC #URC | #KidsRound pic.twitter.com/Xv8n7uG2ai
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) April 24, 2025
While the Bulls aren’t out for revenge, according to White, Glasgow attack coach Nigel Carolan said earlier this week that last season’s finalists would be “coming with a vendetta”, adding that “any team that comes to Scotstoun, they should feel that they’re coming to the slaughterhouse.”
When told that by a Scottish journalist on Friday, White said: “I don’t know who he is, I’ve never met the man. I have no idea why he would say that, I don’t even know how he gets to that basis.
“I don’t coach rugby on revenge or any of those emotions about, ‘We don’t like you, you don’t like us.’”
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Photo: Craig Williamson/SNS Group via Getty Images
