Bulls bereft of Springbok star quality, White admits after Toulouse taming

Bulls director of rugby Jake White conceded that his squad was devoid of enough current Springbok quality in the aftermath of their defeat to Stade Toulousain in France on Sunday.

The Bulls went down 33-9 to Antoine Dupont and Co in Toulouse, where they barely laid a paw on the five-time European champions, thereby exiting the Champions Cup at the last 16 stage.

Toulouse, meanwhile, host the Sharks this Saturday (16:00 kick-off).

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White fielded his two Springbok stars, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie, but the rest of the team couldn't get them into positions to use their X-factor prowess.

Elsewhere on the park, they lacked an international starting front-row that came up against Toulouse' Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, and Dorian Aldegheri - all internationals - who made up the France front-three that beat England 53-10 at Twickenham during the Six Nations.

Lock Thibaud Flament, who started the France-England game, came off the bench for Toulouse and scored one of their three tries.

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"Yes ... That's the problem and it puts it into perspective," said White about the chasm in internal quality on display at Stade Ernest-Wallon.

"I say it week in and week out. You see how Kurt-Lee and Canan change our team and it's two Springboks, who might not even start in the World Cup.

"Because we've got (Makazole) Mapimpi, Cheslin Kolbe, Willie (le Roux) and Damian (Willemse), these two guys will probably not start at the World Cup. They make a massive difference to our game.

"When you put that into context and you've got teams like the Stormers, who've got 11