Everitt told me ‘win it for South Africa’

Jake White says the Bulls can’t wait to compete against another opponent when they go into the Rainbow Cup North vs South final against Benetton Treviso on June 19th.

The final will be played in the home stadium of the Northern Hemisphere Shock Rainbow Cup winner Benetton in the northeastern city of Treviso.

Benetton got four points when opponents of the finals, Wales’ Ospreys, failed to host them this weekend after three of their squad tested positive for Covid-19.

The Italians advanced to 22 points from five games and were third with the Glasgow Warriors out of reach of runner-up Münster.

Benetton is led by the South African scrum half Dewaldt Duvenage and will be the underdog in the first competitive game between a European club and a top South African franchise.

As the coronavirus spread around the world last year, New Zealand and Australian franchises gave up super rugby in favor of domestic and trans-Tasman competitions.

The Bulls, Sharks and the other leading South African franchises the Stormers and Lions turned to Europe and the Rainbow Cup is the prelude to playing ‘Pro16’ rugby next season.

In the local Rainbow Cup SA, the Bulls finally finished nine log points ahead of the rest of the South African teams after firmly booking their spot against Benetton with a 34:22 win over the Sharks on Saturday.

“This is not about reward,” said White after the match.

“It is an exciting event for all of South Africa. Everyone is just interested in seeing a different type of game than the local derbies. We’ve had to play against each other many times.

‘I just saw [Sharks coach] Sean Everitt downstairs and he told me “Go and win it for South Africa”. The reality is that everyone just wants to see something different. We have a great chance to play in Europe for the first time and we want to compete with the best.

“We want to see where we stand compared to the only team that is unbeaten in this tournament.”

– Additional reporting by AFP

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