Die beseringslysie van die Vodacom Bulls word al korter. Dit is die nuus uit die Bulls kamp na die naweek se wedstryd teen die Waratahs.
Deon Stegmann (ribbes), Frik Kirsten (elmboog), Grant Hattingh (duim) en Morné Mellett (knieskyf) is almal fiks verklaar en kan oorweeg word vir Saterdag se wedstryd teen die Hurricanes, terwyl Jürgen Visser (lamboud) Woensdag ‘n fiksheidstoets ondergaan om sy betrokkenheid te bevestig.
Volgens spandokter Org Strauss, oefen Jan Serfontein, Dewald Potgieter, Ulrich Beyers, Rudy Paige, Pierre Spies, Chiliboy Ralepelle en Ruan Snyman weens ligte skete nie vandag saam nie en val Dinsdag weer in, terwyl Marcel van der Merwe ook weer voluit oefen na sy knie-operasie.
Paul Willemse (knie, 12 weke), Cornell Hess (knie, 6 maande), Zane Kirchner (vinger, 2 weke), Frans Venter (lies, 6 weke), en Callie Visagie (enkel, 1 week) is nog buite aksie.
Die langer-termyn beserings van Cornell Hess en Paul Willemse pla my nie soveel nie, hulle is nie beginspankandidate nie… maar ek sou graag weer ‘n fikse Fracois Venter wou gereed sien, sodat mens hom op Nr 12 kan speel, Jan Serfontein op Nr 13 en JJ Engelbrecht kon uitskuiwe na regtervleuel in Akona se plek. Akona, alhoewel bestendig, kou nou ou bene jong, en hy het die Bulls ‘n drie gekos oor die naweek.
Beide Ulrich Beyers en Jurgen Visser is ook net daai treetjie of 2 agter Zane Kirchner en hulle sal hul peil moet lig, as gevolg van die feit dat Zane Kirchner op pad oorsee is binnekort. Ek dink nie Clayton Blommetjies is die antwoord op heelagter nie, so rats as wat hy by tye kan wees, so onvoorspelbaar dom kan hy ook wees en persoonlik dink ek sy plafon is dalk maar Vodacom Cup.
Tussen Chiliboy Ralepelle, Willie Wepener en Kallie Visagie het die Bulls ook uitstekende hakers… so ek is taamlik gelukkig.
Ek wil die Bloubul Matskappy net waarsku dat hulle vroegtydig nog ‘n vaskopstut van formaat sal moet vind / koop / grootmaak, want Werner Kruger is nie meer wat hy was nie! Iemand sal ook vir Dean Greyling onderhande moet neem oor sy swak skrumtegniek op loskop… hy kan miskien sterk wees, maar sy tegniek suig!
Die Bulls het harde bene in die skrums gekou Saterdag en dit was die direkte gevolg van die stutte se kwaliteit of tekortkominge! Dit help ook nie ons oorheers die lynstane maar kry swaar in die skrums nie…
Die ware waarde van die gebrek aan ‘n Fetcher flank het die Bulls by die afbreekpunte Saterdag amper in die wiele gery, en Jean Cook sal moet naderstaan wanneer Deon Stegmann nie beskikbaar is nie, Dewald Potgieter op Nr 6 is NIE die antwoord op die oopkant nie, hy sal heelwat beter op Nr 7 of Nr 8 doen (nie dat ek enigsins vir Arno Botha op Nr 7 of Pierre Spies op Nr 8 wil vervang nie).
Dit is ‘n bietjie goeie nuus GBS
1 @ grootblousmile:
I know he is still a way off from recovering from injury and then may take a while to get match fit but we do have prop Marcel vd Merwe who came highly rated from the Free State this year and the break in the Super rugby for the tests may work in our favour in possibly getting him back for more games nearer the end of the tournament than if there had not been the break, although I am not sure if he will have played enough games to play in knock out games if we qualify, what is the rule on this?
Hallo GBS ek sal maar in Ingels antwoord want ek tik te stadig in Afrikaans
Also quite weird that just last week we were discussing the inclusion of Beyers for the Bulls at fullback with Kirchner leaving and then he gets included quite late in the week with Visser’s injury – as I said I have not seen him play to make a judgement but that some of the Bulls guys were rating highly and you also said you thought he was a good player, so maybe its a bit harsh to judge him on that one performance when he joined the team so late and had to quickly make the step up to Super level, remember I think he has also been playing more at centre in the Vodacom Cup as well so would have to adjust things a bit back to his familiar fullback position, I would give him another run this weekend, would start him even if Visser is well again and that way if he struggles then Visser is there to step in off the bench. BUT some of the Bulls folk are now also rating Blommetjies precisely because he seems to bring something different yes it may be a bit unpredictable but that spark could also be channelled in time to be a good thing provided the defence systems make a plan for any possible short comings that concern you.
3 @ Bullscot:
Marcel van der Merwe will definately add value to the Bulls and if memory serves there’s no problem with him playing in the play-off’s seeing as he was named in the Bulls Super Rugby Group, pre-season, before the onset of the tournament.
Regarding Ulrich Beyers.. note that I have not done a turn-around from my stance that he is good and a good future prospect, but I think both Beyers and Jurgen Visser needs to get that final mentorship from Zane Kirchner before Zane departs for overseas and in the same breath both youngsters would have to show that they are ready to take this vital step up to the higher level. The one try the Bulls conceded against the Waratahs was a lapse between both Akona Ndungame and Ulrich Beyers. Zane, with his faults, is a stellar defender and maybe that’s where Ulrich and Jurgen still needs to step up to the plate.
Regarding Clayton Blommetjies, he plays high risk rugby at times from positions and places where he should not… and sometimes it comes off well and at other times it fails spectacularly, that being the primary reason why I say he might have his ceiling at Vodacom Cup level. The high risk approach he sometimes adopts I do not think you can create defensive strategies for, not for the opposition nor for your own 2nd line of defence… he’s like Quade Cooper in that respect… sublime or diabolical, but without Quade Cooper’s International Class (if you could call anything Surfer Dude does, classy). Anyway, that’s my opinion of Blommetjies and he might show me the biggest of toffee’s one day and become a true legend… but I doubt it.
4 @ grootblousmile:
Thats good news about Marcel if he recovers in time thanks.
With Beyers I was more referring to some of the quite ood strong criticism I’d seen on the Bulls site which I couldn’t understand as he had been drafted in so late etc. Interesting you mentioned that Kirchner as a senior pro could still pass on some knowledge to the guys before he goes as initially I thought he was ok but nothing brilliant but then in time thought he was better than most folk gave him credit for. My opinion of him grew at Murrayfield last year when you can see things that are not neccesarily shown on the TV, it looked to me as if he was one of the ‘leaders’ in the backline as he was doing a lot of talking and getting players in position from his vantage point at fullback, that kind of gave me a bit more of an insight to the standing of Kirchner within the Bok camp and the value of all the experience he has built. I know its not great to play players out of position and I’m not that keen on what has been happening with Ulrich Beyers playing at centre, but I actually thought that the emergency experiment of playing Kirchner at centre worked quite well and he maybe should have considered asking to give centre a bit of a go for longer.
Can’t add much to the Blommetjies side of things as I’ve not seen him play, but I get what you’re saying, I know consistency is good but would he have to sacrifice some of the sublime to achieve that, hope he also goes on to be a good player to give us more selection options.
5 @ Bullscot:
Talking about Blommetjies… why Paul Treu has never called him up into the Sevens Blitzbokke now seems strange… because he has speed and unpredictability and would flourish in a game where there was more space to burn and space to exploit with individual unpredictability.
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