Bulls supporters and their enemies really climbed into the Super 14 Champion side after their humiliating defeat against the Crusaders since Saturday. The question immediately arises whether they can be back to winning ways again if  Frans Ludeke decides to stick with this poor performing team? Can they play a lot better and record a win against the high-flying Reds?

Let us have a look at the team:

Backs:

15 Zane Kirchner: He played well and deserves his place, possible replacements would be Jaco vd Westhuisen and maybe Francois Brummer.  Francois Brummer at full back will signal panic so i can not see that option being taken.

14 Francois Hougaard: Re-deploy him at no 9. Give Gerhard vd Heever his place back.

13 Jaco Pretorius: I personally dont see him doing anything in the team. JJ Harmse wrote an article in Beeld with very interesting statistics about the Bulls on Saturday. Jaco according to the stats from “ruggastats” hadto make 16 tackles and he did not miss one, he also made 2 turnovers and broke the advantage line 4 times. He spoiled it a bit with 2 knock-on’s. I would change him with Stephan Dippenaar.

12 Wynand Olivier: According to ruggastats (RS), Wynand had to make 11 tackles, missed 2, he carried the ball 8 times broke the line 3 times and gained 98 meters. That sounds good, until you see the replay of the Sonny Bill Williams try and remember the 2 very poor knock-on’s. I wont change him , just change his role from crash ball runner to distributor.

11 Bjorn Basson: He did his job, no change.

10 Morné Steyn: No change amongst current Bulls player ranks will improve the team here. Possible changes Francois Brummer or Jaco vd Westhuisen. I would vary his instruction not to kick every ball.

9 Fourie du Preez: He needs a rest, not only for physical fatigue but he lost a bit of perspective. Also his attitude with the referees is costing his team, referees do not want players to tell them the whole time they are blind. I would like to see him on the bench with Francois Hougaard starting.

Forwards:

8 Pierre Spies: Replace him  with Danie Rossouw. Let him come back as impact player, everyone in SA wants it except Frans Ludeke. Spies made the most tackles according to (RS), he made 19 but he missed 4 and thats what he will be remembered for. The most vital one was when he could not stop Israel Dagg. His tackle technique is suspect, he does not bring his opponent down but rather tries to hold the player in the air. Is he doing it under instruction? It seems so, otherwise he would have been dropped long ago for that alone.

7 Dewald Potgieter: Make him captain for this match.

6 Deon Stegmann: What happened to Derick Kuun? I would move Stegmann to the bench and play Kuun. Is Juandre Kruger on tour?

5 Victor Matfield (C): Move him to the bench to rest and only send him on if absolutely necessary. He needs a break, take it out of his hands and drop him for this game. Possible replacements Flip vd Merwe or Juandre Kruger if available.

4 Bakkies Botha: Play him the full 80 minutes, he needs that. He is trying to pack in 80 minutes of rugby in 50 minutes.

3 Werner Kruger: No change

2 Gary Botha: No change

1 Dean Greyling: No change

If these changes are made it will be almost the same match 22 that lost to the Crusaders. But with a totally new match captain we might focus on the ball and not on the Referee. If someone tells me we cannot change the captaincy it will be a very sad day in Bulls rugby, one player must not get bigger than the team.

If Francios Hougaart plays scrumhalf he must be allowed to play his own natural game. Forget all the up and under’s , all the traffic directing and pods.

This revised Bulls team CAN do it for us.

Have a look at the following Statistics , quite interesting. http://www.rugby-talk.com/?page_id=27492