Bulls mentor White still upbeat about season progression, despite Stormers setback

Bulls director of rugby Jake White may have been on the losing end of his fifth consecutive United Rugby Championship North/South derby against the Stormers, but that didn't dim his outlook for the rest of the tournament and season.

The 23-19 loss to the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld, which saw a record crowd of 41 205 pack in, also saw the Bulls drop their sixth game of the season.

It may have been only their first home loss of the season, but wins for Munster against the Ospreys (58-3) and the Glasgow Warriors against Ulster (17-11) meant the Bulls dropped to sixth on the table.

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They have a bye this weekend before hosting the Lions on 4 March, but they have two key away games in the form of Ulster on 25 March and Toulouse the following weekend in a Heineken Champions Cup play-off.

White, who lost loose forwards Cyle Brink and Nizaam Carr in their failed defence of their Sunnyside Fortress on Saturday, was slightly happy that they haven't been badly affected by injuries.

White did note that the demanding end-of-March/ early April schedule will ask pressing questions of not just his team, but every other one in the URC.

"We're fortunate that we haven't been badly affected and we still have most of our players available for every weekend," White said.

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"There's the exception of Johan Goosen, who's just had an operation, but generally, it hasn't affected us, but it catches up with most teams by the end of the competition.

"When you have to play Ulster away and Toulouse the following weekend on consecutive match-days on the player budgets and base