'Hope' springs eternal for White as lessons of loss can turn Bulls into winners

Just ask the Bulls team, who lost their dear teammate Cornal Hendricks last week to a heart attack.

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LOSING hurts.

Before that, the Pretoria side lost to Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

And lest we forget, Jake White's team have gone down in two United Rugby Championship finals as wellwith the second one just last season at Loftus Versfeld.

But there have been a number of famous victories during White's tenure in the capital city.

Leinster away in a 2022 Dublin semi-final was arguably the finest, and just last month, they knocked over Munster in Limerick and defending champions Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium. And just over a week ago, they thrashed the Dragons 55-15.

So, that hard edge is growing in this Bulls team day by day, week by week, month by month, game by game. They've enjoyed another fine.

URC season, finishing second on the log to earn a home quarter-final and hopefully a home semi-final next weekend too.

But it's knockout rugby for the next three weeks, and it all starts in Saturday's last-eight clash against Edinburgh the same Scottish club that booted them out of the Challenge Cup in the same round on April 12. White, though, is confident that his Bulls team have heeded the lessons from all of that heartache and pain on and off the field - to bring home the trophy in 2025.