Bulls praised on eve of URC playoffs

This upcoming weekend is momentous for South African rugby as three teams contest the United Rugby Championship playoffs.

The Stormers will face Edinburgh in Cape Town while the Bulls and the Sharks face each other in Pretoria.

For their first time in a Northern Hemisphere competition after over two decades of Super Rugby, South African franchises have done excellently. 

Bulls Company CEO Edgar Rathbone was extremely happy with his team's progress, particularly after their poor start during the initial four-week tour of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, which included three defeats. 

"We always knew it was going to be a tough competition," Rathbone admitted.

"What I respect about our coaching staff and our team is that they came back, in a debrief, after that specific tour and said that they need to make some game plan changes and how we play, specifically a lot more ball in hand and a lot more tempo.

"That is what surprised us the most from the European teams – the tempo, especially that first game against Leinster. They then started implementing the changes, and the team, at first, struggled to get the hang of it. Obviously, when you change things, it takes a bit of time. As soon as all those game plans clicked in, we saw the results in the competition."

Rathbone has special thanks for the players and the coaches for all the hard work they've put in over the season.  

"We need to thank the players and the coaches for all the work they have done to get us to the position we are in now – to play a quarterfinal in Pretoria. We are all really looking forward to Saturday."

This week's URC quarterfinal coincides with the two-year anniversary of Rathbone's arrival at Loftus as CEO.

Reflecting on his time at Bulls, Rathbone said: "I can't