The Bulls will play warm-up games against the EP Kings and a Premier XV as part of their 2011 Super Rugby preparations, the union announced on Wednesday.
The Bulls will take-on the Kings in a compulsory friendly match in Port Elizabeth on January 29 and will face a Premier XV squad in Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium on February 5.
They open their Super Rugby campaign against the Lions on February 19 in Johannesburg.
The match between the Kings and Bulls is part of the Eastern Cape franchise’s preparations ahead of their anticipated participation in the Super Rugby competition in 2012.
The clash against the Premier XV will be the final opportunity for the Bulls to get ready for their opening fixture. The Premier XV will mainly consist of players from the Mpumalanga-based Pumas and a couple of the Bulls’ fringe players who will also get some valuable game time.
Bulls CEO Barend van Graan, said that these warm-up matches will be beneficial for the Bulls brand.
“We are looking forward to the opportunity to play in Port Elizabeth and Nelspruit as it will give our fans outside of Pretoria a chance to see the team play,” said Van Graan.
The Bulls’ squad assembled in Pretoria on Wednesday following a short rest period over the festive season and a very successful training camp in George last month.
Players like Wynand Olivier, Gurthro Steenkamp, Fourie du Preez, Victor Matfield, Gary Botha and Danie Rossouw – who all carried injuries in recent times – will be assessed on Wednesday, with most expected to take part in the week’s sessions.
New recruit Bjorn Basson and regular hooker, Chiliboy Ralepelle, will join up with the squad as soon as allowed by the judiciary of SA Rugby. Both players tested positive to the use of an outlawed stimulant while on tour with the Springboks in November and their case is currently being investigated by SA Rugby.
Wilhelm Steenkamp (Cheetahs), Jacques-Louis Potgieter (Sharks), Pedrie Wannenburg (Ulster), Heini Adams (Bordeaux), Jaco Engels (Kings), Bandise Maku (Lions) and John Mametsa (retired) are missing from the class of 2010.
I think that Ralepelle and Basson will be found not guilty and they will be able to move on.
@ Loosehead:
If they are I think there will be a worldwide outcry that SARU have swept it under the carpet.
As innocent as the players may be in not having knowingly taken the substance, the fact remains they did take it.
There are many instances of athletes worldwide having been found to have “taken” the same substance “innocently” and all (to the best of my knowledge) received bans ranging from short (3 Months) to as long as 2 years.
The real culprits are undoubtedly SARU / The Bok management team. THEY SHOULD KNOW AND ACT BETTER.
They are supposed to be professionals but continually manage to screw things up in an amateur manner. Any decent medical team would have checked EVERYTHING the players were taking, and if the players took anything (medication, supplements, energy drinks) without first checking the contents then I’m afraid they are just plain STUPID, and as we all know, ignorance is no excuse in the eyes of the “law”.
I hope for the players sake that they get nothing more than a slap on the wrist, but I can’t see it happening.
I predict a 3 month ban.
@ Scrumdown:
Don’t want to comment on the rights and wrongs of the players and whatever it is they may or may not have taken, but just a question : why is it being reported that SARU need to investigate, surely if this happened on an international tour then the IRB should be the ones looking into this and decding on their fate? By the way are they actually on a suspended sentence at the moment, was that handed out by the IRB and is there a time limit for this thing to be sorted in? Its been at least 6 weeks now since they were ‘tested positive’ so why is it taking so long?
@ Bullscot:
Basically for any Rugby offence a player is suspended until he has appeared before, an official tribunal / hearing.
Whether that has an effect on any sentence at international level I’m not sure. In club Rugby a ban of say 2 weeks, actually means 2 weeks where games are scheduled and any “suspended pending a hearing” time is usually taken into account, so in this case I guess it could mean that they could well get some reprieve for the EOYT games they missed.
My understanding of this case is that it should have been handled by the IRB but that SARU requested that they handle it for “logistical” reasons.
Seems like an attempt to influence the outcome to me, but then I’m biased against SARU as I consider them to be a bunch of spineless @ssholes for the most part.
@ Scrumdown:
Thanks for clearing that up, surprising that IRB has given in to SARU request to handle it, wonder what those “logistical” reasons, even if we don’t agree with it SARU wouldn’t be the only national rugby body trying to ‘look after their own’, whether that be players, or maybe in this case other employees of theirs, so I suppose in a way they are showing some spine here.
scrumdown @ 4
“Seems like an attempt to influence the outcome to me, but then I’m biased against SARU as I consider them to be a bunch of spineless @ssholes for the most part.”
😆
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