Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White compared Cameron Hanekom to former schoolboy sensation and Stormers loose forward Nick Koster after their 33-32 win at Cape Town Stadium.

Hanekom made an immediate impact when, from the kick-off, he broke through the Stormers’ defence. It ultimately led to lock Cobus Wiese’s try, which gave the Bulls the perfect start to the Vodacom URC North-South derby.

The No 8 did make a couple of errors when receiving kick-offs, but his all-round impact saw him named Man of the Match.

“He made a statement from the kick-off,” said White at the post-match press conference. “Everyone knows he can carry. Everyone knows how good he is.

“It reminded me a bit of Nick Koster when he was at Bishops. When Rondebosch played them, he caught the ball from the kick-off and ran through everybody.

“That’s a sign of a good player, because people know he [Hanekom] can do it, people expect him to do it, and he still does it.

“He obviously tries to do a little bit too much sometimes, but that’s what happens when you’re young.”

White said the 22-year-old had “a better feel for the game” than any current loose forward.

“He pops up in the right places [at the right time]. Everyone knows he can carry and everyone knows he is physical. Another thing that he has, which other loose forwards in his position don’t have, is he can jump in the lineout.”

White said he was thrilled with his side’s bonus-point win, which saw them move to within two log points of the second-placed Glasgow Warriors with a game in hand, but admitted it could easily have gone the other way had Stormers replacement Clayton Blommetjies not missed a simple, last-minute conversion.

“I would have been upset. I probably would have been asked if I’m going to lose my job. That’s the margins, guys [between victory and defeat].

“If he had kicked that kick over, I would really be unhappy because we found a way to lose that game.

“Even [former Springbok flank] Schalk Burger just said to me, ‘Can you try any harder to lose a game?’ And he’s right. I mean, we tried everything we could to actually lose that game.

“The fact that we got out of it, and won, is fantastic, but we will have to talk about it at Monday’s video session.

“We’re going to have to be a little bit more composed and controlled, because at times when we were in our half we were rushing it too much.”

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