Ackers: Bulls’ belief never wavered

Coach Johan Ackermann says the Vodacom Bulls never doubted they could overturn a 12-point half-time deficit to beat Edinburgh at Hive Stadium.

The Bulls triumphed 19-17 in the Vodacom URC clash to record back-to-back away wins over European competition following a sequence of seven consecutive losses.

“There was no panic. That calmness was exactly the feeling we had at half-time,” Ackermann said. “Even with the scoreboard pressure, there was a belief that we could turn it around, that we could put pressure on them and score tries if we needed to.”

Ackermann said the half-time talk focused on the Bulls needing to be more accurate, especially at the breakdown where Edinburgh  contested everything, “so we had to clean that up and make sure we got our own ball”.

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He said the message was simple and grounded in what the Bulls were feeling physically during the contest.

“We felt at half-time that we were starting to get the upper hand physically. We said there were only two tries in it and that if we got our structure right, we could score.”

Postcard from Scotland 🐂

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— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) January 24, 2026

The Bulls did exactly that, striking early in the second half to make the score 17-12. The team from Pretoria then dominated territory and possession for long spells, but Ackermann admitted they made life harder for themselves.

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“We all strive for that perfect game where every 22 entry ends in points – the top teams do that,” he said. “That’s definitely a big work-on for us. We missed a fair few opportunities: penalties, lineout mauls, scrums.”

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While he was encouraged by the team’s character, Ackermann was clear the Bulls are not the finished product.

“I can live with mistakes, nobody’s perfect. What I want to see is a team that plays with pride and effort, and that’s what we saw, especially in the last two weeks.”

However, he pointed to discipline and execution as areas that must improve.

“There are still too many unforced errors and penalties we can’t control. Those little things – half a step offside, poor exits – we’re not going to get away with that. If we want to progress [to the playoffs], we have to be much better.”

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Ackermann believes consistency over 80 minutes is the next challenge.

“You seldom have momentum for a full game, but we can’t have those big fluctuations. If we drop our error rate and become more clinical, it will help us a lot.”

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