BullsDewald PotgieterDeon StegmannThe Vodacom Bulls will limp into Queenstown on Monday to nurse their wounds and get themselves up and ready for Saturday’s second tour challenge against the Highlanders in Dunedin.

The Bulls have chosen the holiday resort for a few days before heading to Dunedin on Thursday, and it couldn’t come at a better time as they lost both Dewald Potgieter (torn bicep) and Deon Stegmann (torn groin muscle) on Saturday.

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Both flankers headed home after the game, and will be assessed in South Africa, but both are set to be out for long periods as the Bulls have now lost four Springbok flankers this season to long term injuries. The team doctor’s initial assessment is that Potgieter will miss six months of action while Stegmann will be out for around 6-8 weeks. A final prognosis will be confirmed by the scans the two players have in South Africa though.

The arrival of Wimpie van der Walt on Monday morning will add some depth but it is likely that Jono Ross will return to the fetcher’s role this weekend as the Bulls look to become the first South African side to get a win in Australasia.

Grant Hattingh’s second-half performance was enough to convince the management he can cover at 7 and 8 for the side, with a decision needed on whether or not to play Victor Matfield this weekend or keep him as cover.

The management have indicated Matfield will step into the other role in the team and cover one of the players’ who have left for home, but originally it was hoped he would sit out for the four weeks the team are away from home.

There is no doubt the Bulls missed Matfield’s prowess and experience on Saturday, but Flip van der Merwe deserves special credit for keeping the team together in a first half where they were forced to make over 100 tackles and didn’t see the ball much. Van der Merwe was the team’s top tackler with 19 tackles and while the line-out didn’t function as it should, he was a colossus in the loose.

The other big worry is flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter’s leg injury. Coach Frans Ludeke said afterwards it was a real concern but that he believed it was more a dead leg scenario than anything too serious. If Potgieter can’t play then Handre Pollard will get his first start in Super Rugby, and a much deserved one after the excellent try he scored on Saturday.

Team doctor Org Strauss believes Potgieter can train again on Tuesday, as can Jurgen Visser, who hurt his ankle, so it will be interesting to see what the selection process will be?

Ludeke was disappointed at the loss, but praised his side’s fighting ability. What the coach didn’t say was the unhappiness there was with a suspect scrum penalty by Steve Walsh, which effectively handed the game to the Hurricanes with six minutes to go.

But the Bulls have accepted the result and will move on to Dunedin hoping their injury cloud lifts and they can get the game plan executed well on the South Island.

“It’s always great to start off a tour with a win but it was so close at the end. We had to do some damage management in that first half but we kept our defensive lines and clawed our way back to finish within three for the first half,” Ludeke said.

“Then the second half we had more field position and at one stage it was great to have the lead as well. At the end we were just short – that penalty at the scrum was the difference between the two sides. I thought we played well in that second half and had a few opportunities but couldn’t convert so easily.

“It was a massive effort from the team on defence, absorbing all that pressure. There are a lot of positives for us going ahead on the tour.”

Ludeke said he wasn’t worried that his team have had little ball in their last two games, rather looking at the positives of how well they adapted to coming under attack from two excellent attacking sides.

“New Zealand sides like to run from within their own half – and they see any type of possession as attacking possession. They like to keep the ball and put up the phases, but I thought we broke their rhythm, getting some great turnovers in the first half and especially in the second half. In the end it was pretty even.

“It was so close, playing in New Zealand and we feel like we missed out. But that’s Super Rugby and we need to bounce back from that. There are things we need to fine turn and work on. We still have the whole tour ahead of us. We’re playing the Highlanders next week – we have a short week. We have to get the players recovered and ready for that game this week after we lost some with injuries.”

The Bulls know it will be more of the same this week when they face the Highlanders. What they also know is their chances of success rest firmly on their own shoulders.

6 Responses to Super Rugby: Bulls need to regroup after loss and key injuries

  • 1

    A lot has been spoken about Big Vic’s captaincy, and yes we didnt dominate the lineouts like we would have liked, but Flip is exceptional, many South African teams would have capitulated after having to make so many tackles especially the Hurricanes, that would run almost anyone ragged with the amount of ball they got.

    The Bulls lost though, and we should never applaud mediocrity. but they were there and faced wave after wave of attack from the best attacking team in the competition and probably should have won. Even with huge injuries, it will only help pull the team together and instill them with confidence.

    In the highlanders we will face a different prospect against the Bulls of New Zealand, and we will need to be much better in the air of the FDP of the all blacks will put us under sever pressure.

  • 2

    in the air, or the FDP(A. Smith) of the all blacks will put us under sever pressure.

  • 3

    I know it was a loss and it is bad, but if you look at the stats of the game vs the Canes, then it is unbelievable we nearly won them:

    Kicks 17: Beauden Barrett (Hurricanes) (many of which were short grubber kicks behind out line, to which I have to say, this must have been the best game I have even seen Jurgen play)

    Meters Run 123: Andre Taylor (Hurricanes)
    118: Julian Savea (Hurricanes)(Devastating Ball carriers)

    Clean Breaks 2: Alapati Leiua (Hurricanes)
    2: Andre Taylor (Hurricanes)

    Carries 18: Julian Savea (Hurricanes)
    13: Alapati Leiua (Hurricanes)
    13: Andre Taylor (Hurricanes)

    Defenders Beaten 7: Alapati Leiua (Hurricanes)
    7: Julian Savea (Hurricanes)

    Offloads 5: Julian Savea (Hurricanes)
    3: Alapati Leiua (Hurricanes)

    Tackles 22: Flip van der Merwe (Bulls)
    16: Jacques du Plessis (Bulls) (Came on as a reserve)
    16: JJ Engelbrecht (Bulls) (Yep the “worst” defender in all of africa)

    Missed Tackles 5: Francois Hougaard (Bulls)
    4: Jan Serfontein (Bulls) (The guys will need to work on this, these two sometimes go too high into tackles and get bounced)

    Turnoevers Won
    3: Jack Lam (Hurricanes)
    2: Alapati Leiua (Hurricanes) (This stat should be a bit higher, they probably dont include penalties conceded, this was a red mark on the Bulls game)

    Handling Errors
    4: Alapati Leiua (Hurricanes)
    4: Andre Taylor (Hurricanes)

    Bulls scored 2 tries to 1
    Possession 58% to the Canes
    87 vs 181 tackles (33 tackles missed)

  • 4

    Beat them 🙄

  • 5

    @ MacroBull:
    I just hate the way the Bulls lost. I still don’t know what the penalty was for.

  • 6

    @ leon:
    there were a few odd penalties at scrumtime.

    I think our big concern though is how poor we were in the air. I hope Ludeke and his team work on those weaknesses. it is out of character for us. Not sure what kruger and them need to do. they just need to wise up. They are good scrummagers but struggle with the dark arts.

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