Nortje not fazed by criticism over his captaincy

Bulls captain Ruan Nortje says he's not fazed by the criticism levelled against his captaincy in recent matches.

Nortje stepped into the role of captaincy at the Bulls after the position was vacated in November when Marcell Coetzee went to Japan for a sabbatical for some months. Director of rugby Jake White entrusted Nortje to take over the reins, showing the leadership skills the Springbok lock has. 

However, being a captain of a rugby side has its ups and downs and Nortje, who is captaining a senior side for the first time in his career, is finding out. The pressure to make the right calls during the game is very high because the momentum of the game depends on it, once you get a decision right, you look like a genius and when you don't, you look out of depth. 

Many have had their say on Nortje's captaincy, mostly highlighting his shortcomings but he's paying them no mind and focusing on improving. 

“The best thing for me is I don’t read any articles about me and I don’t have Facebook, I don’t read into that stuff, that’s the best thing for me personally," said Nortje when speaking to the media on Tuesday. 

“I know myself more than anybody else, I know what I’m capable of and my teammates believe in me, that’s the most important thing.

"It’s all learning, I’m still getting used to the captaincy role, it’s something that excites me very much. It’s just for me to constantly learn and grow every weekend; it does not matter if sometimes it doesn’t go your way or get a bit of criticism, it’s always going to be part of rugby," he said. 

Nortje is likely to lead out the Bulls on Saturday when they take on English side Exeter in the Champions Cup at Loftus Versfeld (7.30pm). The game is important for the Pretoria side's aspirations of making the knockout stages of the European Cup. 

The Bulls skipper said they know Exeter will be tough opposition, dubbing them a world-class side. 

"Exeter is the 2020 champions of the Premiership and Champions Cup, they’re a world-class team, and we know what’s coming," Nortje said. 

"They want to outwork you and put phase after phase and take you up upfront. All the facets of the game, they want to kill.

“For us, it’s just to focus on what we do best and keeping our discipline and penalties as low as possible. I think it’s going to be a massive physical battle, all departments have to step up."