As he prepares to take over the coaching reins at the Bulls, Johan Ackermann is confident the array of talent at Loftus has what it takes to finally win the United Rugby Championship (URC).
The vastly experienced Ackermann is replacing Jake White, who led the Bulls to three URC finals and the knockout stages of the Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup.
“This team has talent and I believe we can play any style of rugby we want,” said Ackermann, who was part of the coaching staff for the Junior Springboks as they won the U20 Championships in Italy, with their final victory against the Baby Blacks on Saturday.
“We can play the traditional Bulls style and be physical and have good set pieces, but we also have the quality to attack and play all the spaces that the opposition give us.
“My philosophy is to play an exciting and attacking brand of rugby, be positive and score tries. And we have to acknowledge that what the Bulls have been doing must work.
“They have beaten good sides and reached playoffs. I do feel there were moments where I would probably want to change a few things tactically, and once I get used to players and understand our strengths as a team, I can then bring my own flavour in.
“This has been a quality performing team for the last few years already, so that is a challenge for me — to make sure we keep performing with the quality of this squad.”
Coaches of the leading South African franchises have a balancing act to perform ensuring their teams compete well in the URC and Champions Cup.
“There will be the challenge of managing this squad across various competitions, as is the norm for the modern-day coach. There will be the challenge of the always-high expectations on this team,” Ackermann said.
“The expectation is high and it brings a different pressure on this position. You can feel there’s not a lot of room for error. But I can only be myself and enjoy this and through that we can keep that standard going.”
The coach said he will first look internally to find a winning formula.
“If something is not quite clicking, then I normally look at the team’s values. If as a team you’ve put out certain values at the beginning of the season and one of those is not going well, then it will reflect on the field.
“It’s not about chasing the outcome or the result or the position on the log. It’s about looking and seeing if there is something small we’re not doing as a team.
“Finals are won on such small margins and I’ve experienced losing finals. It’s very difficult to judge the outcome of a final from the outside if you haven’t been involved in that week’s preparation with the team for the game.
“Then from a tactical point of view, it's about going back to the principles of the game and seeing what we’re missing. It’s about what we control now — the next training session, the next scrum, the next breakdown.”
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