Bulls coach Frans Ludeke made one change to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Super Rugby clash against the Stormers at Newlands in Cape Town.
Bakkies Botha could not be considered due to a knee injury and his place at lock will be taken by Danie Rossouw, who moves from the side of the scrum.
Dewald Potgieter, who started off the bench against the Waratahs last week, slots back into the number seven jersey he wore 11 times this season and Derick Kuun moves onto the bench in his place.
Losing Botha was a blow, Ludeke admitted, but added that he is still confident about the trip south.
“Bakkies was due to play in his 100th game, so there is a lot of experience lost, but Danie will play in his 115th match. Dewald started with this loose trio in ten of our matches this year, so slots into an established unit.
“We have good momentum and we will back ourselves in this one,” Ludeke said.
Bulls captain Victor Matfield admitted to the importance of this clash.
“We can still finish top of the conference, but can also miss the play-offs altogether if we lose, so we still have all to play for. ”
“The focus on Saturday will be to execute the game plan in an accurate way and to use the opportunities that come our way.”
Bulls :
Zane Kirchner, Gerhard van den Heever, Jaco Pretorius, Wynand Olivier, Bjorn Basson, Morne Steyn, Francois Hougaard, Pierre Spies, Dewald Potgieter, Deon Stegmann, Victor Matfield (c), Danie Rossouw, Werner Kruger, Gary Botha, Dean Greyling.
Replacements: Chiliboy Ralepelle, Rossouw de Klerk, Flip van der Merwe, Derick Kuun, Dustin Jinka, Francois Brummer, Stephan Dippenaar.
It’s better to have Fourie du Preez rest for another week and with Bakkies a bit injured, Pakslae is an able replacement.
I would have started with Chiliboy rather than with Gary Botha though.
Gooooooooooooooo Bullssssssssss!
When it came down to the crunch, Morné Steyn stepped up and showed the pretenders to the throne, Patrick Lambie & Sias Ebersohn, how to play flyhalf in recent weeks.
Same is going to happen on Saturday… and Kurt Coleman is not even in the class of a Lambie or Ebersohn!
It’s going to be hard and brutal, and I’m hesitant to pick a winner here…. Stormers defence or Bulls ability to step up when it matters, what will win it?
Bulls props are the better combo.
Deon Fourie is the better hooker.
Locks… I’ll back Matfield and Pakslae to edge this one
Loosies, this is an area where the Bulls might struggle against a bloody good Stormers trio.
Hougie any day over Ricky
Morné by miles over Coleman
Stormers centers are a real threat, Jean & Jaque are way better than Wynand & Jaco
Both sides have one form wing (Bjorn & Gio GifAplontjie) and one severely off-form wing (Habana & Van den Heever)… the form wings line up against one another – Bjorn at No 11 against Gio at No 14… hope Bjorn gets try No 10 to beat Habana’s Super Rugby record for a season.
Give me Zane Kirchner any day over Jantjies, the has-been!
What about strategy for the game?
Expect Morné to launch up-and-unders towards Habana’s wing and behind him, he has poor hands and with Bjorn chasing them hard.
Expect a massive onslaught by the Bulls at set piece, with stronger scrums and better lineout play.
Beware of the Stormers knack at playing the ground-ball situations better than the Bulls… and Bulls, if this was one day where defence matters, it’s this one!
Somehow the Bulls have to break down the well-organised Stormers defensive patterns, as they have managed to do in the past….
Yep I agree GBS, this is going to be a tight one, on ability alone I feel the bulls have a slight edge…that being said, it is a home game for the Stormers who are playing brilliant rugby at the moment with awesome defence.
The Bulls on the other hand are dangerous when they need to be so………….as I say difficult to call!!!!
I am not so sure the Bulls have more ability than the Stormers.
If the Stormers can gain parity in the scrums which I think they will and Andries Bekker is his usual self the tight phases won’t be so much of an advantage for the Bulls.
In open play and the breakdown, I think the stormers have the advantage, Andries Bekker, Deon fourie and the loose trio of the Stormers in my opnion are better ball carriers and distributors.
Morne Steyn has a lot more experience than Coleman, but Coleman is still somewhat of an unknown quantity.
Outside Coleman, I will back the Stormers more so than the Players outside of Steyn.
For the Bulls to win this one, they must dominate tight exchanges and breakdown, rushing Coleman into mistakes. And of course Basson chasing the high ball.
For the Stormers to win, they need to equal the Bulls in the scrums, Bekker must gain parity in the lineout, and speed up their gamewith their backs.
It is going to be a great game, won’t be surprised if it is a battle royale.
4@ biltongbek:
Even in the 23 / 13 loss by the Bulls early in the season against the Stormers at Loftus, when the Bulls were still severely off the boil, the Bulls dominated the lineouts… go look at the game stats for that one.
But the ground-ball and contact situations is where the Stormers are so potent… as well as their defence of course.
I am looking forward to the contest!
4@ biltongbek:
Parity in the scrums… I wonder…
The 2 Bulls props seem to be on fire, and should any one of Verbrokkel Harris or Wicus Blaauw (The Toy Story hero look-alike) get injured or subbed, the Stormers would be scraping the barrel with that 19-year old Red head, Kitskos (Kitshoff).
There will probably be no more than 17 scrums all game, so that is nowhere near the factor it used to be, maybe good for 6 points either way to posts due to scrum penalties.
On the other hand in a game there should be more than 140 ground-ball situations…. that is where the difference will lie.
#5 GBS hier kan ek nie saamstem met daai stats nie, dis die een ding wat ek van daai game kan onthou en dit is hoe pateties ons lynstane was!!! op daai stadium het Bekker vir Matfield ore aangesit, ek was eintlik half sad want dit was so asof die student nou op so punt is om die meester te wys!!! Gelukkig perform Matfield nou weer baie goed.
7@ Tripples:
Ek het NET GISTER daai stats iewers gelees, sal die goed soek vir jou… oor die lynstane in die eerste game tussen die 2 spanne…. nie dat stats my ooit impress nie.
OK… ek het gaan kyk.
Gedurende die 1ste game was die Bulle amper DUBBEL so effektief soos die Stormers in die LYNSTANE…
Bulle neem 69% van hulle eie lynstane (wat self nie goed is nie, hulle seisoen gemiddeld per wedstryd is oor die 85%)
Stormers neem slegs 38% van hulle eie lynstane (wat uiters swak was en hulle het dit opgestoot en handhaaf nou ‘n 75% gemiddeld op eie lynstane die seisoen)
Wat opmerklik was en is, is dat Deon Fourie ook die haker was in daai game vir die Stormers.
Maar nouja, stats, more stats and plain damn lies… soos hulle sê!
Hier is bietjie ander stats… van ESPN SCRUM vir daai eerste wedstryd.
Eish sien nou, het seker net so gevoel vir my hehehehehe
waarmee ek wel saamstem is Chilliboy, hy is vir my beter op die stadium as Gary, sy ingooie is meer standvastig en hy beweeg op die veld, hy is ook ontsaglik goed op verdediging, alhoewel Gary ook is, maar dis net asof Chilli ‘n kort kop voor Gary is.
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