Regular Vodacom Bulls Super Rugby wing Gerhard van den Heever has been included in the Vodacom Blue Bulls team to play the Lions at Coca Cola Park in a Currie Cup match on Saturday.
Van den Heever will replace the injured Akona Ndungane in the only change to the side that beat Western Province last weekend.
The speedster started the Currie Cup season in the fullback position, but suffered an injury and his return coincides with Ndungane’s rib injury that will sideline him for at least two weeks.
Vodacom Blue Bulls Coach Pine Pienaar admitted that he was lucky to have Van den Heever fit.
“Gehard has played well at this level in the past and will boost the side with his incisive running and pace. He is a proven try scorer and we will need tries to beat the Lions on their home turf.”
Pienaar was adamant that the Blue Bulls are not out of the play-offs race, but admitted that they will probably need to beat the Lions.
“We cannot look at other teams and hope for them to do us any favours. We need to knuckle down and beat the Lions, because only then we will remain in control of our destiny.”
Pienaar will make a final call on the availability of Louis Fouché on Friday. If the pivot recovers from a groin strain, he will replace Francois Brummer, who will then drop to the bench.
If Fouché is unfit to play, Brummer will start at ten and Marnitz Boshoff will be his back-up. Fouché was replaced on short notice by Brummer before the WP game.
The Vodacom Blue Bulls team to play the Lions is:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Wynand Olivier, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Gerhard van den Heever, 10 Louis Fouché / Francois Brummer, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Dewald Potgieter, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha (C), 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: Willie Wepener, Rossouw de Klerk, Gerrit-Jan van Velze, Arno Botha, Dustin Jinka, Francois Brummer/Marnitz Boshoff, Jurgen Visser.
Strong side, but Lions to take this by 7-10 points
1 @ Lion4ever:
You might be right…. but these Blue Bulls of mine always seem to pull something special out of the hat when they are with their backs to the wall, like the Currie Cup Log currently dictates.
A betting man will go for a Lions win….
Damn, what to pick on Bru?
Luckily my Currie Cup Bru is so farked already, I might just as well opt for an upset and back my Bulletjies… specially if Louis Fouche plays and not “The Brommer”
Mine is just as messed up. My heart and head say Lions, but your boytjies are really upping their game. For me the difficult choice is FS/WP. I think I will go for the minor upset and go for FS
3 @ Lion4ever:
One of either Free State Cheetahs or WP will lose…. for Log purposes hopefully Free State Cheetahs, combine that to a Blue Bulls win…. if at all possible… and the Log would be showing some recovery for the Blue Bulls…
But ultimately, it will not be a Blue Bulls Currie Cup winning year….
Not sure who I would like to face in the semi’s. Both FS and Bulls are good play off teams, so it will be tough
…. Or maybe I should hope for a Cheetahs win, and hope WP also lose against the Sharks and then against the Lions….
Sharks should take the Griquas in Deben this week….
So if only the Bulls can keep on winning, starting this Saturday, they will leap-frog the Griquas to 5th place and then in the next 2 weeks possibly also leap-frog the Cheetahs or WP…. hehehe
So many permutations
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