After getting back to winning ways on Saturday when the Vodacom Bulls beat the Toyota Cheetahs at Loftus Versfld, by 26 / 21, the Bulls are keen to continue this trend when they meet the injury-decimated DHL Stormers on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld, at 19:10 SA Time.

A traditional North-South derby always makes for excitement and the Bulls will have to be at their best against a Stormers side which has seen some dramatic improvements in recent weeks.

Bulls captain Victor Matfield said his side need to capitalise on the momentum of their victory over the Cheetahs to challenge for a play-off place.

The tense 26-21 victory was the Bulls’ first win in five games, and Matfield said that they will have to be even better in the coming weeks if they are to sneak into the play-offs this year.

“We will take this now and hopefully get some momentum and some confidence going into the next game, we know it is going to be another huge game on Saturday,” Matfield said.

“We will need to be even better than tonight.”

Bulls coach, Frans Ludeke was pleased with the spirit shown by the Bulls, coming back from a 9-point halftime deficit, to eventually win by 5, scoring 17 points in the 2nd half and only conceding 3 points in the process.

“We had momentum, they got away with an intercept try and suddenly we were under pressureâ – we were patient,”Ludeke said.

“They had all the momentum and all the things going their way in the first half, we just fought our way back and when we had the lead I thought we really defended well and managed the game well.”

Ludeke attributed much of their success to a well-functioning maul which the Cheetahs were incapable of stopping.

“We squeezed them into turnovers, the maul was working well for us and we got the momentum every time we got penalties and we converted. We were unlucky not to score more tries,” Ludeke said.

The Bulls are still in 10th spot overall on the Super Rugby Logs, within reach of a number of teams above them. The 5th placed team, the Western Force, is just 3 Log points ahead of the Bulls on the Combined Log. All they can and should try to do is just to keep on winning and in the process gradually jump up place by place, to possibly reach a play-off position.

Fitness report:

There was a general clean bill of health for the Vodacom Bulls on Monday as they started to prepare for their Vodacom Super Rugby clash against the DHL Stormers in Pretoria on Saturday.

A handful of players who participated in the 26-21 win over the Toyota Cheetahs at the weekend sat out training on Monday, but will be fit for selection for the Stormers match.

Jurgen Visser (foot), Jacques du Plessis (hamstring), Dean Greyling (bronchitis) and Bjorn Basson (influenza) will all train on Tuesday.

Flip van der Merwe (hamstring) and Piet van Zyl (knee) will miss another week of action, with Van der Merwe also serving out a suspension till May 11th.

Pierre Spies (bicep), Arno Botha (knee), Frik Kirsten (neck), Dewald Potgieter (bicep) and Deon Stegmann are all on the long term injury list.

Fiksheidsverslag:

Daar was geen ernstige ongevalle by Maandag se Vodacom Bulls-oefening nie, maar ‘n paar spelers sal eers Dinsdag aan die span se oefensessies begin deelneem. Die Vodacom Bulls speel Saterdag teen die DHL Stormers op Loftus Versfeld.

Jurgen Visser (voet), Jacques du Plessis (dyspier), Dean Greyling (bronchitis) en Bjorn Basson (influenza) sal almal Dinsdag oefen.

Flip van der Merwe (dyspier) en Piet van Zyl (knie) sal nog ‘n week buite aksie wees, met Van der Merwe wat ook nog ‘n skorsing tot 11 Mei uitdien.

Pierre Spies (bicep), Arno Botha (knie), Frik Kirsten (nek), Dewald Potgieter (bicep) en Deon Stegmann (lies) is almal besig met langtermyn-rehabilitasie.