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Jovial Jake White before a match. (Photo by Gordon Arons/Gallo Images)

Bulls mentor Jake White has emphatically dismissed a stream of thought that his team peaked too early in their brilliant semi-final victory over Leinster last week ahead of Saturday's United Rugby Championship (URC) final.

Some commentators, notably former Springbok consultant and Lions coach Swys de Bruin, earlier this week pondered if the men from Loftus over-exerted themselves mentally and might perhaps fall a bit flat when they meet the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium.

But White believes if his charges' reaction after the win in Dublin is anything to go by, they will be more than up for the challenge.

"Last week when we beat Leinster, we didn't celebrate," said the franchise's director of rugby.

"It wasn't like we achieved anything. I can tell you that the guys were happy, but they weren't jumping around and celebrating like everything is done. That's a good sign for a coach."

His skipper, irrepressible flanker Marcell Coetzee, has continually reiterated over the past few weeks that the Bulls have been playing knockout rugby ever since they've had rescue themselves from a poor start to the campaign.

Furthermore, White's troops have won two of the three finals they've appeared over the past two years.

READ |Jake concerned over scrum fiasco on URC final pitch: 'Stormers could suffer most'

"We've had to jump up from 15th on the log. I remember people sharing screenshots of us being second last on the table. We've had to play knockout rugby for most of this campaign," he said.

"[World Cup-winning Springbok coach] Kitch Christie always used to say that you have to play your best rugby in a final and that's the reality.

"We got nothing from winning in Dublin. You maybe get 250 WhatsApp messages from your mates congratulating you, but it's not winning.

"Our final is on Saturday. I'm not concerned. The Stormers won their semi-final with a try and conversion with the last play against Ulster. Maybe their final was last week as well.

"A final is remembered by the team who wins it. It's like Neil Armstrong being the first man on the moon, the second guy was also there but nobody remembers him."

Meanwhile, White has had no qualms laying down the simple challenge to his players of pulling out all the stops this weekend because, as he's discovered, they've repelled everything that's been thrown at them over the past few years.

Teams:

Stormers

15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain)

Substitutes: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Sacha Mngomezulu

Bulls

15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Cornal Hendricks, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp

Substitutes: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 David Kriel

"Last week we beat Leinster with 19 internationals. We beat South Africa 'A' last year. And my message to them would be all those players started like we started. All of them were young at one point and they had to either sink or swim," he said.

"Thats the message - either we sink or swim. I have no doubt every time we have played in a knockout game, we have come through the other side as winners. Every time we have had to beat someone - we lost to the Sharks twice, and we beat them in the playoff, we lost to the Sharks in the Currie Cup and we beat them in the final.

We lost to the Stormers twice, now it's irrelevant. It's a playoff game and the lessons we learn by playing all those big teams, they all started like this. We dont have five World Cup winners. If they picked the Springbok team tomorrow, we wouldnt have one player in the 23.

"But saying that, it's a great way to be, because all the teams started like that. Leinster started like that, the Crusaders started like that. The Springboks started like that. When I started coaching the Springboks in 2004, we had 175 caps of which Breyton (Paulse) had 80 and Os (du Randt) had 50. That team went on to win Tri Nations, World Cup and the British & Irish Lions.

"My message is, 'listen boys, let's go out there and do it'. Every time Ive challenged you, youve won."

Kick-off is at 19:30.

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Jake rubbishes talk that Bulls peaked too early in Dublin: 'Lots of WhatsApps isn't winning' - News24