![](\"https:\/\/eu-cdn.rugbypass.com\/images\/common-svg\/select-arrow.svg\"){kind=icon}
https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/news\/johan-ackermann-its-obviously-disappointing-at-the-moment\/ Despite the scoreline reading only a five-point loss, it\u2019s a nightmare start to 2026 for Johan Ackermann<\/a> and the Vodacom Bulls, who have just gone down to rivals the Stormers, in Cape Town.<\/p>\nThe Bulls<\/a> now sit eleventh in the URC standings and will travel to in-form, fourth-placed Gallagher Premiership<\/a> outfit the Bristol<\/a> Bears in their next game, after the Bears\u2019 narrow victory over the Sale Sharks<\/a> on the weekend.<\/p>\n It was a tight contest in Cape Town, with neither team scoring until the 30th minute, when Springboks No.10 Handre Pollard<\/a> crossed the white line for the first try of the evening.<\/p>\n From there, it was all the Stormers, apart from one Pollard penalty early on in the second half. A Willie le Roux yellow card didn\u2019t help the cause, before a late try to Stormers<\/a> replacement prop, Ntuthuko Mchunu<\/a>, secured the win for John Dobson\u2019s side.<\/p>\n The late rolling-maul try ruined any chance of a late twist in favour of the Bulls, handing them their sixth loss in a row.<\/p>\n Ackermann, who said post-match he was disappointed, also said he feels bad for the players after the five-point defeat.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s obviously disappointing at the moment. We\u2019re all emotional and it hurts to lose like this,\u201d Ackermann said after the match.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel sorry for the players because things just don\u2019t seem to want to turn for us. Even when we win a high ball, the bounce doesn\u2019t go our way. It feels like every little kick goes against us and you don\u2019t get the 50-50 calls either. It\u2019s a tough place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n Although the Bulls left DHL Stadium without the win, Ackermann said he was proud of his players.<\/p>\n \u201cI really wanted the players to put their hands up and they did. It wasn\u2019t a fluent game. There were mistakes from both sides and it boiled down to one or two big decisions. Credit to the Stormers, they finished well.<\/p>\n \u201cFor large parts of the game we were good and created opportunities. When Sebastian [de Klerk] won that ball at the end, on another day the pass sticks and we score in the corner.<\/p>\n \u201cThose mistakes are fixable, and that\u2019s why I believe we can turn the season around.\u201d<\/p>\n On the topic of turning the season around, the 55-year-old head coach said it\u2019s time to knuckle down and start getting results.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going full out with the strongest possible team for the next two games.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we lose, we\u2019re out. If we win, we\u2019re in [the playoffs], it\u2019s simple.<\/p>\n \u201cThis next block is about getting everyone on the same page, building cohesion and turning our season around.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"mens united-rugby-championship Vodacom Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann leaves the pitch after his side’s victory in the United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-390347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}