- Bulls mentor Jake White believes there's absolutely no reason for the Springboks to panic ahead of the British & Irish Lions Test series after SA 'A' lost to his charges on Saturday.
- The former national coach points out that the match was nothing more than a hit-out for the Boks and that Morne Steyn told him afterwards the side needed this result.
- White did hail his young forward pack for fronting up effectively to their vaunted SA 'A' counterparts.
While hailing his Bulls charges' skill and character, Jake White - who's been on the other side of the fence as a former national coach - believes there's absolutely no reason for the Springboks to panic after they, as South Africa 'A', lost to the men from Loftus.
The Bulls scored all their points in the last 14 minutes to record a memorable 17-14 comeback victory at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
"I know you guys want me to say there's a crisis and that there should be some headline news about this," White said afterwards.
"But the Boks needed a hit out and had to give some guys game-time. There's no way that this result will be an indication of what will happen next week when the Test series starts.
"I don't think this performance, just like the Lions against SA 'A' earlier this week, should be one that's read too much into."
In fact, White revealed his veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn - who's currently in the mix to face the touring side for the second time in his career - came for a chat and told him that the result was the tonic the Boks required.
"Morne told me this is exactly what the Boks needed. They needed an opposition that fronted up physically and that played a certain way," he said.
"We did that. We played a different style to what we've played in the Currie Cup. We wanted to do a couple of new things.
"The young forwards fronted up nicely, but it's not portent of what's to come in the Tests. I'm very happy. The way we played was pleasing, the way we came back. That's what will be stored in the memory bank."
From a national interest perspective, however, the key for the Springboks now is to take this likely minor blow on the chin and calmly carry on.
"The Tests start from zero. The Stormers play the Lions later (on Saturday) and even that result is meaningless in terms of the bigger picture. Next week, when the two sides pick their first-choice sides, that's when the real action starts," said White.
"From a Springbok view, no-one's ever going to remember a friendly. People will remember the Test series, they remember the results of the big games, whether it be 1974, 1997 or 2009.
"The Springboks will definitely be only focusing really on what happens next week and rightly so."