The Cheetahs squad has now been discussed and time to do the same through a range of Articles on the Bulls.
After the Bulls range of Articles, we’ll see ranges of Articles on the remainig 3 Franchises too… but let’s focus on the Bulls for now. I will handle the discussion of players a bit differently from the Articles on Cheetahs contenders, limiting discussion to the 33 players in the Bulls official Super Rugby training group.
In this Article we look at the contenders for PROPS in the Vodacom Bulls 2012 Super Rugby group, and whether they could force their way into Bok contention.
The Contenders:
Name: Dean MacGyver Greyling “Wors”:
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A year ago Greyling was a back-up prop to Gurthrö Steenkamp at the Bulls, but with the latter now in Toulouse and missing most of last season due to a broken arm, Greyling used that opportunity to cast his own shadow. Powerful with ball in hand and very strong in the scrum, he impressed all in 2011 and made a lasting impression when called upon for test match duty.
Dean ‘MacGyver’ Greyling was one of the stars of the 2004 Craven Week competition and has now firmly established himself as a powerhouse in South African rugby.
Greyling attended Affies, in Pretoria, and played for the Bulls age-group sides from 2005 to 2007. He was one of the standout players in the 2010 Currie Cup and was rewarded with a call up to the Springboks Preliminary training squad ahead of their end-of-year tour. He continued his good form during the 2011 Super 15 and was selected to start at loosehead prop for the Springboks on their Tri- Nations tour against Australia and New Zealand.
Funny story – It seems that Greyling, whilst a youngster, was besotted with the television programme MacGyver and pestered his folks to the extent that they actually changed his name on his birth certificate. All grown up now, there was the idea to change it, but Greyling decided otherwise.
Rugby Career:
- 2011: Blue Bulls (Super Rugby & Springbok)
- 2010: Blue Bulls (Currie Cup), Bulls (Super 14)
- 2009: Blue Bulls (Currie Cup), Blue Bulls (Vodacom Cup)
- 2008: Blue Bulls (Currie Cup), Blue Bulls (Vodacom Cup), Bulls (Vodacom Super 14)
- 2007: Blue Bulls (Under-21), Blue Bulls (Vodacom Cup), Blue Bulls (ABSA Currie Cup Premier Division)
- 2006: Blue Bulls (Vodacom Cup), Blue Bulls (Under-19)
- 2005: Blue Bulls (ABSA Currie Cup Qualifying 21und), Blue Bulls (Under-21)
- 2004: Blue Bulls (U18 Coca-Cola Craven Week)
He will be a contender again for a Springbok berth as loosehead prop in 2012.
Greyling is a strong scrummager but is also a very hard strike runner and is a very busy player in the loose and at ruck and maul time. Expecting a big year from the “Wors”.
Werner Kruger:
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Kruger has improved season upon season and his call-up to the Springbok test side in 2011 was no surprise. Already a stalwart in previous Bulls packs, it will be expected of this durable prop to show the way as a senior member of the tight five. He has sound basics, with his greatest asset the ability to deliver five star performances week in and week out.
He made his debut for the Bulls during the 2008 season. Kruger was part of the Bulls team that won both the 2009 and 2010 Super 14 finals. He has represented South Africa at under 21 level and in 2011 also the Springboks.
Call him slow poison, the silent assassin or the rock of the Bulls scrum, it will not matter, as Werner Kruger will justify all those names allocated to him at Super Rugby level.
Kruger’s contribution does not finish with scrumming. He is solid on defense and often enough tops the stats with cleans at the ruck and his support play at line-out time is spot-on.
“I have tasted what it is like to play for the Springboks and I want more. I would like to be involved with the Springboks again and play tests for my country.”
Once again Werner will be in serious contention for Springbok selection in 2012.
Frik Kirsten:
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After some time away from the game recovering from a neck operation and university studies, Kirsten is finally ready for rugby on the big stage. A fantastic athlete who can run most backs ragged, the former national age group player will add depth and brains to the Bulls pack. He is versatile and plays both sides of the scrum, making him a valuable squad member in a long season.
Frik Kirsten is one of a number of youngsters that was included by Frans Ludeke in his Super 14 squad in 2009.
Frik has played for the SA under 19’s as well as the SA under 20’s. He has attended Laerskool Elarduspark in Pretoria where he mostly played number 8 and was selected for the Blue Bulls’ Primary Schools Craven Week team. He enrolled at Affies where he continued playing at number 8, but in his under 16 year he was moved to lock and in his St 9 year he made the permanent switch to tighthead prop.
Some of the rugby scribes I share the Press Box with at Loftus rates Frik as having huge potential… may this be a year that he proves them right!
Rossouw de Klerk:
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When called into the senior ranks as a junior prop De Klerk responded so well, he can boast a Currie Cup and Super Rugby medal already. He will push for a starting place in 2012, after playing almost exclusively off the bench in Super Rugby last season. A mobile player with great technique and aptitude for his position, De Klerk has a long and distinguished career ahead of him at this level.
He is a Tighthead prop and will miss the start of the 2012 Super Rugby season due to having undergone a foot-operation, late in 2011, resulting from an injury sustained in the 2011 Currie Cup competition.
Dawie Steyn:
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Schooled across the road from Loftus Versfeld at Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool (Affies), Steyn has serious rugby dreams, which includes playing for the Bulls regularly and commanding a starting berth. He took a detour to the neighbouring Pumas side and has had some impressive performances in his 50 Currie Cup appearances for them, which resulted in him getting back where he wants to be at the Bulls. He gave some of the foremost Currie Cup and Super Rugby props a very hard time in 2011. Expect big things from this powerhouse in his first season of Super Rugby.
He signed a two-year contract with the Blue Bulls, late 2011 and will play for the Bulls in 2012 and 2013.
Steyn also attended the University of Pretoria, where he played Super Bowl rugby. He represented the Blue Bulls amateur side before embarking on a professional rugby career at the Pumas in 2008.
Frans Ludeke, the Bulls’ Super Rugby coach, said he was impressed by Steyn’s performances in recent seasons and feels that Dawie will add vital depth to the Bulls front row. He has all the attributes associated with Bulls front rowers and should add real value to their effort.
Starters:
The Bulls are virtually assured to start with their two frontline props, who are both recent Springboks, Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger. There is no reason why it should be different either, these two players have anchored the Bulls scrums with distinction and will be difficult to contain, even by the strongest scrummagers in Super Rugby.
There is no reason why the Bulls scrum, with these props anchoring their scrum should not be right up there in the quality stakes.
The players who will play at prop for the Bulls are all seasoned campaigners, playing for the Bulls Franchise who pride themselves as traditional heavyweights in the forwards stakes, and this year should be no different.
The next Article in the range will deal with the Bulls hookers.
At long last! Starting props are good enough, and the depth looks adequate. Must say, Greyling and Kruger are fine but Greyling only got his bok blazer because Coenie “Shrek” Oosthuizen was injured. Dis nou maar “Wors”excuse the pun!
One thing is for sure, some intriguing battles lie ahead! The Bulls props are not particularly heavy, and they won’t have Bakkies’s weight behind them.
Considering that Coenie weighs in at 127 kg’s and he is mobile too.
Bulls should have enough quality and depth in the props…
2 Springbok starters, one extra prop who owns a Super Rugby and Currie Cup medal, one Provincial prop with 50 Provincial caps to his name as well as a prop with a lot of promise.
Bring on the other scrums, bring on anybody!
Some good info here Gbs hope our front row does well this year, not too much of a kenner of the dark arts of the front row so just a question, are the guys maybe a bit tall to make a top notch scrummaging unit especially when you consider Chilliboys height? Just seems to me you will have two tall props and then fairly short hooker so maybe hard to bind and push together properly and maybe shorter opposition props can also get under them and make scrumming difficult. I know Kruger and Greyling are Boks so must be good regardless, but just a question out of curiosity.
You really got me wondering here regarding Frik Kirston : “but in his under 16 year he was moved to lock and in my St 9 year he made the permanent switch to tighthead prop.” don’t think he was even born when you were in St 9 GBS
Oeps bit of a typo there should be Kirsten
With respect GBS owning a Super medal, does not a bok prop maketh! Meyer Bosman has a few CC medals, and the Guppies have made him public enemy No. 1 in Guppievale! Lol, just yanking your chain a tad!
Now Greyling and Kruger are good props, but your next line of defence hardly inspires confidence. Will see when the 1st scrums touch……………pause………..Hengage, how good the Bulls scrum will be without the Enforcer Both’s bulk behind them.
Imo, the bulls can’t afford to have a lightweight 7 like Dewaldt Potgieter anymore, you guys will have to play Jacques, or face the ignomy of being shoved around by the Drizzlers lol
6 @ Cheetah4eva:
Ha, farking ha!
The Cheetahs locks are’nt exactly giants or stoomrollers! Neither is the Cheetahs forwards exactly the biggest set of okes in recent rugby memory either.
You say a Super Rugby medal (plus a Currie Cup medal by the way) means nothing…. mmmm wonder if one of your Cheetahs have one of those amongst ALL of them combined, a Super Rugby WINNERS medal, that is! Oh, hahaha, no they don’t… not one amongst ALL of them, not ONE.
Scrumwise the Bulls will be be fine with Flip (Springbok No 4) and Juandre Kruger (possible Springbok in 2012 already) as locks, behind an ALL Springbok front row.
No problems with the loosies either… 3 Sprinboks as starters PLUS future Springboks in Arno Botha, Jacques Potgieter and possibly CJ Stander too!
Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
Just yanking your chain back…. hehehe
4 @ Bullscot:
Fixed it…
Flok if he had to have been moved to prop in my std 9 year he would have to be ancient… almost as old as Stefan Terblanche perhaps!
8@ grootblousmile:
Good one gbs,Terblanche doing well to still be making a living playing the game at his age, I think you get ancient and then fossil… nah come on you’re not that old man 🙂
powerpuff voorytjie daai aussie het hulle geboss laas jaar,hulle behoort darrem seker oraaiterig te lyk teen die southern clowns
powerpuff voorytjie daai aussie het hulle geboss laas jaar,hulle behoort darrem seker oraaiterig te lyk teen die southern clowns
10 @ smallies72:
Ek sien jy hakkel Smalpielle… is jy so bang vir hierdie Bulls voorry?
Lol, no Super medals yet, but we do have a couple of WC one’s. Listing the Boks and potential boks is fine , but let us remember that some were gifted blazers, and are hardly regarded as such outside Moftus. Olivier is a prime example lol
Coenie, should have been a Bok, will sure to be in 2012, and for many years to come
Strauss should have been Bismarcks wingman, but eish! he ain’t transformed!
WP Nel might not be in the Bok mix, but he sure knows how to carve up a loosehead.
Marcel vd Merwe, not yet a bok, but will definately feature before his 23rd birthday
Brussow already a bok, and if fit should be the 1st name on the Bok list
Juan will recover and is a legend in his own time.
Ashley Johnson already a Bok
Davon Raubenheimer already a bok
So no problems in our scrum either. Agree the lineout is a bit of an unknown, but betcha it is sorted by the time we take the field for Super rugga
@ grootblousmile:
@ grootblousmile:
nee ek het dit aspris so gedoen want julle blou tr/lle moet moss twee keer lees voor julle verstaan,agv al die lug besoedeling wat julle breins betjoinks
nee ek het dit aspris so gedoen want julle blou tr/lle moet moss twee keer lees voor julle verstaan,agv al die lug besoedeling wat julle breins betjoinks
@ smallies72:jy sien soooooooooo
12 @ Cheetah4eva:
So now you have just gifted Coenie a Takbok blaser too, and he has’nt even played a minute as a Takbok.
The fact that Greyling & Werner Kruger have blasers, means they were right up there… not just a lowly Currie Cup or Super Rugby player… they were next in line.
Same with Wynand, he’s been there and maybe not the best Bok in his 34 (yes 34) Test caps, but as a Super Rugby player he has’nt had many better against him in Super Rugby…
13 @ smallies72:
Daar hakkel jy duidelik weer… flok maar jy sukkel erg!
Bloei solank ek kom netnou!
GBS, why can’t I see the drop down menu on a Windows 7 machine when I’m not Logged In and already in a thread?
16 @ Scrumdown:
Which Drop Down Menu are you referring to?
The Menu under the header?
IMO there are NO standout front rows in the SA sides this year, except for MAYBE the Sharks.
The rest are a bunch of (mainly) youngsters and a sprinkling of Journeymen like CJ vd Linde.
Coupled with a dire lack of decent locks, the SA sides may struggle against the Kiwi scrums and may well struggle to dominate even the Wobblies.
Then again I may be totally off the mark.
After all, WTF do I know?
@ grootblousmile:
HOME:ABOUT:INTERNATIONAL RUGBY etc etc etc, directly below the Bulls infested Springbok header.
@ grootblousmile:met watse kar?
17 @ grootblousmile:
Ah, you must still be using Internet Explorer… I only saw it now in IE… will work on it and get back to you.
20 @ smallies72:
Ek sal dat BonzaiGBS my bring… hehehe
Flok, ek het my ogie op ‘n 328i Blik Met Wiele wat ek nou wil koop…. net eers bietjie prys haggle met hulle, soos ‘n jood.
@ grootblousmile:vat nou raad van die vrystater koop vir jou n merc
Deyan [ is how it is pronounced] Greyling and Werner Kruger. My memory of them is of them wearing the Green and Gold of the Springboks and getting their heads shoved up their poephols’s [a la Eddie Andrews] by a hond sleg Aussie front row.
24@ Loosehead:
LMAO. Such a vivid, and somewhat apt description.
Flattered to deceive.
21@ grootblousmile:
So now WTF should I be using?
I used to use Google Chrome but my “IT consultant” changed it on my desktop, and loaded IE on my notebook.
25@ Scrumdown:
Thank goodness that they shaved on the mornings of those tests, as the rash from their harde baarde going up their poephol’s would have been quite painful.
23 @ smallies72:
Man, ek is meer sporty as wat die gewone Mercs my bied.
Ek is nie 67 nie ek is 47!
26 @ Scrumdown:
IE is OK, I personally use FireFox.
Chrome is kak!
Bulls Bashing……………..is there a more enjoyable sport?
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