‘It’s going to haunt me’: Bulls skipper regrets not going for pole in URC final defeat to Glasgow

Bulls co-captain Ruan Nortje is back to his best. (Photo by Tyler Miller/Gallo Images)

A devastated Ruan Nortje said his decision not to kick the Poles in the closing stages of the Bulls United Rugby Championship (URC) final defeat to the Glasgow Warriors was likely to “haunt” him a bit.

Trailing 21-16 (the final score) in the final quarter of a tense affair, the Bulls captain tried to pull the trigger early by going for the corner, allowing the hosts to work their way forward in instead of taking a kick in the 66th minute. goal that would have reduced the deficit to two points with more than 10 minutes remaining.

When he made that call, Nortje probably hadn’t negotiated an interesting statistic that Glasgow coach Franco Smith had casually dropped after the match – that the team that had scored 23 tournament-level maul tries (16 more than the next) had yet to conceding a five-pointer to a lineout drive this season.