Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White praised Jan-Hendrik Wessels for his Man of the Match performance against Glasgow at Scotstoun Stadium on Friday night. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.
The 23-year-old loosehead prop played a key role in the visitors’ 26-19 win, holding up winger Sebastian Cancelliere over the tryline early in the game, while making big hits, winning breakdown penalties and helping the Bulls dominate at scrum time.
“He’s just been nicknamed Os du Randt,” White said at the post-match press conference. “I don’t know what the reason is but it’s reminiscent of the days when I was lucky enough to coach Os.
“Jan-Hendrik was a lock at school and then a prop at school, then he was a hooker and then he adapted to become a prop again. It just makes our squad so much stronger. He epitomised our back-to-back efforts [against Munster and Glasgow] because his back-to-back efforts were outstanding.”
Jan-Hendrik Wessels 😤
Incredible work from the big Bulls prop to stop what looks like a certain try for Glasgow ⛔️
📺 Stream #VURC live: https://t.co/0P0NNhnwKw pic.twitter.com/vHfovJtMuH
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) April 25, 2025
While the Bulls avenged last season’s final defeat to the Warriors at Loftus, White said Friday’s win was special because it had followed an equally impressive victory on tour.
“To play Munster, who won the competition two seasons ago, and then Glasgow, who won it last season, takes a massive effort, especially away from home. I’m just very happy that in a short week we were able to replicate what we did last week and that was to show a lot of heart – defensively we were outstanding – and it’s a very good way to end the tour.”
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The Bulls’ win saw them close the gap on second-placed Munster to just one log point, with home matches against Cardiff (10 May) and the Dragons (17 May) to come. Glasgow, meanwhile, have two tough away fixtures, against Benetton and Leinster, to end their league-stage campaign.
“Our destiny is in our hands again, which is fantastic,” said White. “We know what we need to do [to finish second on the log]. After all the travel we’ve done this year, it would be a massive relief for the players not to play away again, unless we have to travel to play the team that topped the log [Leinster].”
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However, the Bulls may regret conceding two late tries to Glasgow, who were able to pick up a losing bonus point. White admitted his substitutions played a part.
“We had Juann Else, another hooker, on the bench because Marcell [Coetzee] pulled out before kick-off [with a knee injury in the warm-up], and a young lock, Jaco Grobbelaar, who is still U20 and will play in the World Championship this year, also came in as a reserve. What a game to make your URC debut, against the champions when they’re coming hard at you, but I’ve been around long enough to know that when you put players into certain positions, you can get it wrong.
“But there was nothing else I could do. Marcell pulled out, Mpilo [Gumede] hurt his back and Cameron [Hanekom] had a stiff groin and we didn’t want to take a chance on a 4G pitch. We then had to shift the dominoes around to get through the game and at 26-7 I thought it was done and dusted. So putting fresh legs on and not risking an injured [starting] player probably helped them get a bonus point, but I would have taken the win at the start of the week.”
White also defended the Bulls’ decision not to kick for goal when awarded a penalty in the 80th minute that would have denied Glasgow a bonus point.
“It’s a risk you take, if you hit the pole and they counter-attack and score [a try] then the question would be ‘Why didn’t you just kick it out and take the win?’ It also shows respect to them and I just felt it was the way it should be done. Take the win. We didn’t want to be arrogant and go for poles and then hit the pole and then the next thing you end up chasing them back to your tryline.”
The Bulls earned a penalty after the final hooter but opted to kick the ball into touch.
A successful penalty would have taken away Glasgow’s bonus point..
Jake White’s team are now one point behind the champions on the #VURC log in third 🤏 pic.twitter.com/lYNYhdD2y0
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) April 25, 2025
Photo: @BlueBullsRugby/X
