White comes to Bismarck's defence

REACTION: Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White has come to Bismarck du Plessis' defence after the hooker was sent off in his team's clash against Munster on Saturday.

The Bulls won the match 29-24 at Loftus Versfeld, but it was a tale of two halves.

White's side dominated the first half to go into the break leading 26-3. However, they were sloppy in the second half and they allowed the Irish giants to stage a fightback and ensure a nervy finish for the hosts.

Du Plessis didn’t help his team's cause when he received a red card in the 70th minute for lifting Alex Kendellen over his head at a breakdown.

Replays showed the Munster No.8 landing on his head after Bismarck's lift and the referee had no choice but to give the Bok his marching orders.

However, White hopes "common sense will prevail" when Du Plessis does appear before a disciplinary panel.

"Well, I was going to start him on Wednesday against the Sharks [in the Currie Cup], so hopefully we will get that sanction sooner rather than later," said White.

"I don't think it was malicious. I don't think it was dirty. I can't see that as a high tackle or hitting someone on the head.

"At the end of the day, the guy was almost diving over him.

"He [Du Plessis] was a bit silly. He should have held the guy up and just put him back on the ground.

"They came hard at the breakdown, so it's one of those situations. Hopefully, common sense will prevail.

"I am probably very fortunate I got quite a few hookers that signed with us.

"We still got Joe van Zyl, Schalk Erasmus, Sydney Tobias and Jan-Hendrik Wessels should be back in the next couple of weeks as well."

White said Munster surprised many with their performance in the second half

"We talk about altitude and heat and we won the first half 26-3 and they won the second half 24-3 so who would have thought that," said White.

"Who would have thought that a team [from the Northern Hemisphere] playing at altitude and in the heat would finish as strong as they did."

White added: "We just didn’t finish. In the first half we finished, the second half we didn’t finish the things we created.

"Don't forget this is a tough comp. You can't take anything for granted.

"Who would have thought at 29-3 the game would have ended at 29-24, so there is a lesson to be learnt for us if want to play in this competition.

"You got to play for 80 minutes."

@rugby365com