Jake White is adamant the Vodacom Bulls are destined for greatness in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, despite a surprisingly poor start in the competition.

On the back of their unrivalled success in domestic rugby in recent months, the Bulls were favoured to be South Africa’s flagbearers in the URC.

However, after seven rounds the Bulls find themselves in 13th spot on the overall log with a 2-5 record.

But White has attributed their struggles to growing pains.

“Look, we don’t want to lose anywhere. It doesn’t matter where we play,” the Bulls director of rugby said during a media conference. 

“But circumstances dictate what happens. We don’t want a situation where winning at Loftus becomes more important than the endgame and that’s something we’re mindful of.

“This group is growing together. It’s their first year in Europe. In 1996, the Crusaders came last in that opening edition of Super Rugby and went on to become the most dominant team in the history of the competition.

“It took the Crusaders one to two years to find out about recruiting, gameplans, coaching staff, whatever they had to work on,” he said.

“Look at the success they achieved eventually.”

He added that his players and coaching staff are not pressured by the team’s poor form, because they still enjoy what they do and that will help them improve eventually.

“I’d like to tell you there’s internal pressure, of course there is. But there’s no pressure from outside,” said White.

“The nice thing about rugby is that it’s fun. You’ve got to enjoy it. The highs are really high and the lows are something you work through.

“Pressure, for me, is when you’re a bomb disposal expert and you have to decide whether [to cut the] red or black chord. That’s pressure. I don’t think when you’re playing rugby and having fun and getting paid for it that you need added pressure from the outside.

“Your internal drive and team identity is what matters and should guide high performance on the field.”