As the Vodacom Bulls target playoff spots in both the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and Investec Champions Cup, the decision by Director of Rugby Jake White at the start of this season to find a new “edge in high performance” seems to be paying off on all fronts.

Part of this strategy was bringing in Phiwe Nomlomo and Kennedy Tsimba as skills coaches, with their focus translating into a Vodacom Bulls team that has definitely found another gear this season.

Nomlomo in particular had a clear vision he wanted to bring to Loftus Versfeld. As an educator by training, the “lesson” he wanted to impart was the kind of self-awareness this now more mature group of players is displaying on the field.

“It’s important to know who you are because that translates into a freedom on the field. So when we talk about skills it’s not just at a catch and pass level, and rather at a more holistic level,” says the man who started his coaching career at Selborne College and which then took him to the Kings, the SA Rugby Academy and the Hollywoodbets Sharks before he received the call from White.

“It was a simple decision for me. In the very first meeting I had with Jake White it was said very clearly – we’re here to win, and we are winners here. That was beautiful for me. Everything we do here is designed to win.

“I’ve seen that this Vodacom Bulls team is very hungry. They are driven and improvement is a daily thing for them. It’s very self-driven and doesn’t need to be pushed by the coaches. It’s an inherent desire for continuous improvement. The level the players train at is also very intense and they keep it up for the whole training session. This is a team that understands what it’s going to take to win.”