Jake White has got so much right at the Bulls in the past three years, but he got it horribly wrong in an emotionally charged press conference after his team lost to the Stormers in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) final.

White blamed the referee’s interpretation for the Bulls’ defeat when he should have been looking at his team’s inability to bury the Stormers in the opening 20 minutes of the match.

The Bulls scored a converted try within two minutes of kickoff and spent the next 18 minutes dominant in possession and field position. Right then the only thing that seemed capable of stopping their onslaught was load-shedding.

Somehow, through sheer scrapping, determination and an extraordinary display from veteran Stormers loose-forward Deon Fourie, the Stormers only trailed 7-3 at halftime.

Cue the momentum shift in the final because in the second half there was only one team in control and it wasn’t White’s Bulls. 

This should have been a case of introspection and not emotional implosion. White should have taken it on the chin and acknowledged they weren’t good enough on the night.

There is no crime in being beaten by a better side and in the league this season, over three matches between the Bulls and the Stormers, the Cape-based franchise has been the better team.

I know White was crushed by the result. He said as much when telling the media how much it was going to hurt, but I did expect a coach of his pedigree to show more class in acknowledging the achievements of John Dobson and his coaching staff.

Dobson, in the week, paid tribute to White when he said he was motivated to go up against one of the best in the World Cup-winning White and that he wanted to beat him as much as his players wanted to beat the Bulls.

Dobson spoke with respect and admiration of what White had achieved in his career as a national coach, in Australia, France, Japan and, most recently, in SA with the Bulls.

White let the emotion of the defeat get to him in the moment, just like Gert Smal did the night before, when the Currie Cup Bulls lost at home to Griquas in the semifinal.

White led the Bulls to two successive Currie Cup titles in the past 18 months and Smal, his former World Cup-winning assistant coach, took charge of this season’s Currie Cup campaign while White focused on the URC.

Smal, also emotionally charged at the result, told the media the Currie Cup was a watered-down version of its history and should be consigned to a museum because the country’s best players never took part in the competition.

There was no applauding what Griquas achieved in going to Pretoria and winning the semifinal.

Few dispute the Currie Cup, in its current guise, needs a new identity, but when the Bulls won it there was no talk of it belonging in a museum.

I expected Smal to be gracious, when all he produced was grumpiness.

The Bulls, so dominant in the past 24 months, won everything in SA with their professional teams and feeder teams. They deserved every title and accolade, but in 24 hours it was a case of the glorious turning to a gory inglorious.

I spent an hour after the match chatting to Bulls president Willem Strauss, who channelled his emotions in a very different way.

Strauss was obviously disappointed, but said there were lessons to take and new goals to set. He also said that when a team beats you three times in the season, there can be no arguments and complimented the coaching skills of Dobson, the leadership of Stormers captain Steven Kitshoff and the determination of a young squad who lost just four matches in 21 and kept the Bulls tryless for the last 78 minutes of the final — a Bulls team that scored 70 tries in the league going into the final.

Strauss projected presence in a very difficult moment. Not so Smal and White, and that surprised me.