Ken Borland

The Bulls will not have their sensational young eighthman, Elrigh Louw, for their United Rugby Championship match against the feisty Dragons side at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, and it’s not as if the 22-year-old is resting either after a series of powerhouse displays.

Louw has tested positive for Covid but is not symptomatic. Nevertheless, the protocols still in place mean he has to miss the opportunity for some Dragons-slaying this weekend. What the Bulls lose in youthful vitality they gain in battle-hardened experience though as Arno Botha comes in at the back of the scrum, joining a formidable, seasoned loose trio alongside Marcell Coetzee and Cyle Brink.

“It’s out of our hands with Elrigh,” coach Jake White said on Friday, “but it does give Arno an opportunity in the back row. Elrigh is not symptomatic, but the rules state he has to spend seven days in isolation.

“He will then follow the return-to-play protocols after testing on Monday again. But I’ve learnt over the years from playing teams like the Chiefs in a Super Rugby semifinal with the Brumbies that you need to build a squad with international depth.

“That kind of experience is vital. We’re not there yet, but we do have Springboks on the bench like Morne Steyn and Cornal Hendricks, and we’ll get Bismarck du Plessis back too.

“You know those sort of players will add value and the other players get confidence from that as well. And the players have adapted well under pressure before to things like Elrigh not playing now,” White said.

While it is perfectly natural for the players to have more of a buzz, more of an edge, before matches against top teams like Munster, White said one of the focal points this week has been on ensuring the Bulls don’t compromise their recent excellent run with complacency on Saturday against a Dragons side that is second-bottom and has won just one of their 10 games.

“For big games the players automatically go up another level, for example when I coached the Springboks, before an All Blacks Test you could sense a different mode. It’s the same for everyone.

“But other teams probably take playing us at Loftus Versfeld very seriously and we need to make sure we don’t get caught short.

“The Dragons have had just one bad loss, they stay in the game and will be competitive. I expect them to have a full go at us, they play quite quickly too with tap-and-goes.

“They like to use their backs and they’re not afraid to give the ball some air. I expect them to challenge us, but we’re learning all the time that there are no easy wins, no game is a given,” White said.

Bulls team: Kurt-Lee Arendse,Canan Moodie,Lionel Mapoe,Harold Vorster,Madosh Tambwe,Chris Smith,Embrose Papier;Arno Botha,Cyle Brink,Marcell Coetzee (CAPT),Ruan Nortje,Walt Steenkamp,Jacques van Rooyen,Johan Grobbelaar,Gerhard Steenekamp. IMPACT – Joe van Zyl,Simphiwe Matanzima,Mornay Smith,Reinhardt Ludwig,WJ Steenkamp;Zak Burger,Morne Steyn,Cornal Hendricks.

Ruan Nortje is far too polite to ever be accused of frustration, but there is no doubt being passed over for Craven Week created a great hunger in the lock which can still be seen today in his rip-roaring displays for the Bulls.

The Wonderboom High School product only made the Bulls team for the U18 Academy Week in 2016, but he did secure a place in the provincial academy at Tuks. He caught the eye of current Bulls assistant coach Nollis Marais and, from then on he has been destined for greater things, representing the SA U20s and making his Bulls debut in 2018.

Nortje’s rampaging form over the last year saw him win the SuperRugby Unlocked Forward of the Year award at the Bulls’ weekend awards ceremony, but the 22-year-old could just as easily have won the Unsung Hero title if there had been such a category.

“Every time I go on the field it’s just important for me to give my best for the team and play my heart out. It’s a big opportunity for me to play for the Bulls, it was always a big dream of mine and I never gave up on that dream. I was over the moon in matric when I got the opportunity to come here and express what I love doing. I’m here for a reason and I believe the Lord has put me here.

“So I just try to give my all, it’s just my instinct to be as hard and physical as possible. I’ve always looked up to Francois Mostert, I’ve based my game on him and I love the way he plays. He’s not the biggest lock but he always plays hard with a lot of heart and passion. It’s a massive dream of mine now to follow him and play at international level,” Nortje said at the Bulls celebration at Loftus Versfeld.

And there is certainly no affectation – he is just one of the most likeable young players around – when Nortje expresses his gratitude for the mentors who have helped him on his journey.

“I had two awesome coaches at high school in coach Braam Pretorius and Mnr Van Wyk, they had all the confidence in me that I would be good enough at the top level. Also Lood de Jager and RG Snyman, I’ve learnt a lot from them. Lood coached us in the Currie Cup and he had a big impact on me, being one of the best locks in the world. And it’s been a privilege to play with Duane Vermeulen, who has so much rugby wisdom.

“And it’s been easy to play under Jake White because there’s a system in place and it means a lot to me that he had confidence in me and the other younger players, which you don’t often see. And Russell Winter has been the most under-the-radar coach but he deserves the most credit, he means so much to me in terms of lineout play. Russell is very underrated but he’s one of the best forwards coaches,” Nortje said.

A South African may not have won a Major title since Ernie Els triumphed at the Open in 2012, but any suggestion our golf is going to the dogs has been refuted by the superb displays of our golfers around the world over the weekend.

Between them, South Africa’s four top performing golfers over the weekend – Louis Oosthuizen, Garrick Higgo, Ashleigh Buhai and Els himself – took home nearly R23 million in prizemoney. And that excludes the cash raked in by the top-five finishes of both George Coetzee and Retief Goosen.

The Major event of the weekend was the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club outside New York and the powerful Bryson de Chambeau unleashed his dogs of war in the final round, in which he was the only golfer to shoot under-par, to win by a massive six strokes.

Oosthuizen, who was four off the pace at the start of the round, was soon out of real contention for the title as De Chambeau began dismembering the course on his way to a 67, and his challenge ran out of steam with a three-over 73 on the final day. Nevertheless it was good enough for the 2010 Open champion to finish alone in third, two behind second-placed Matthew Wolff.

Oosthuizen took home more than R14.2 million for his efforts and he now has six top-three finishes in the Majors, including being runner-up at least once in all of them.

The PGA Tour Champions is a lucrative way for professional golfers who have turned 50 and qualified for the seniors tour to bulk up their medical aid and Els took home more than R2.6 million at the weekend when he finished third in the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

Unfortunately Els, who was the leader going into the final round, suffered another of his putting breakdowns as he missed a two-foot putt for par on the last that would have secured him a place in the playoff with eventual winner Jim Furyk and Jerry Kelly.

Goosen finished in fourth place, two shots adrift of Els.

Buhai (nee’ Simon) did get into a playoff in her event on the LPGA Tour, shooting a brilliant seven-under-par 65 in the final round to join Major winner Georgia Hall in the showdown for the Cambria Portland Classic title at Columbia Edgewater.

Unfortunately, Buhai’s putter, which had come to her aid numerous times earlier in the day, let her down on the second extra hole as she missed a par putt to deny her her maiden LPGA title.

The good news though for the three-time SA Open winner is that she has earned herself a place in the U.S. Open in December and she won nearly R2.7 million.

There was at least one South African winner at the weekend though and that was young rising star Garrick Higgo, who claimed his maiden European Tour title by winning the Portugal Open at Royal Obidos. In just his seventh start on the tour, a marvellous seven-under-par 65 drove the 21-year-old left-hander to the victory, Higgo beating Spaniard Pep Angles by one stroke.

Higgo was superb with the Driver all weekend, and he did not make a bogey in his last 26 holes, dropping just three shots all tournament.

While Higgo took home a little more than R3 million for his life-changing win, Coetzee continued to capitalise on his fine form by finishing in a tie for third, four shots back.

It was far from the displays of arrogant power the Bulls have historically produced at Loftus Versfeld, but at least they managed to get the win as they scraped through 20-14 against the Cheetahs in their SuperRugby match in Pretoria on Saturday night.

The Bulls were once again their own worst enemies with numerous unforced basic errors, and they left it late to keep their unbeaten record at home intact for this season as Jesse Kriel’s 74th-minute try gave them the lead for the first time and ended up being the last score of the game.

The Cheetahs had led 11-3 at halftime and were able to use their scrum as a tremendous platform, while also disrupting the Bulls’ lineout maul and causing problems with their own driving maul. The visitors were also more slick on attack and credit must go to the Bulls defence for restricting them to just one try, and that from a rolling maul.

The Cheetahs scrum made themselves known in the first set-piece of the match, shoving the Bulls towards the touchline and allowing space for a backline move which saw right wing William Small-Smith looping around and then stabbing a clever grubber through which forced the Bulls to concede a five-metre lineout.

The Bulls were penalised for sacking the driving maul and the Cheetahs kicked to touch again, fiery loose forward Paul Schoeman rumbling over for the opening try from the second drive.

The Bulls also did themselves no favours through a lack of presence at the breakdowns, and a nice little dart by outside centre Francois Venter earned the Cheetahs a ruck penalty, which flyhalf Niel Marais slotted to put them 8-0 ahead in the 10th minute.

The Bulls are capable of playing some impressive rugby when they can hang on to the ball without someone dropping a straightforward pass, and 19 phases of sustained pressure eventually led to a penalty, allowing flyhalf Tian Schoeman to put them on the board in the 26th minute.

But the scrums are always an area of concern for the Bulls and they soon went down in a heap once again, allowing Marais to extend the Cheetahs’ lead back to 11-3 with another penalty.

That was the halftime score and it had been a disappointing first 40 minutes, with the sheer number of errors backing up those who feel South African rugby players are well behind when it comes to skills.

At least the Free Staters can still scrum, with loosehead prop Charles Marais thoroughly dictating affairs against Bulls tighthead Jacobie Adriaanse, the steady stream of penalties from that set-piece messing up the flow of the game for the home side.

But Adriaanse, together with openside flank Nick de Jager, who had struggled to make any impact at the breakdowns, then sponsored replacement flank Jacques Potgieter for the second try with fine runs and nifty offloads.

Although the Bulls undoubtedly lifted their game in the second half, they still made a lot of unforced errors and they wasted a fine counter-ruck by replacement prop Lizo Gqoboka when scrumhalf Piet van Zyl fumbled the ball, was tackled and then conceded a penalty at the ruck, Niel Marais stretching the Cheetahs’ lead to 14-10 after the home side had closed to 10-11.

Bulls flyhalf Tian Schoeman brought the gap back to just one point, however, with an excellent long-range penalty punishing the Cheetahs for a high tackle after the home side had run from their own half.

The Bulls certainly showed more attacking spark in the final quarter and the match-winning try also came from a long way out.

Right wing Travis Ismaiel effected a vital turnover inside his own half and left wing Jamba Ulengo then went through the gap, centre Burger Odendaal then feeding outside centre Jesse Kriel out wide, the Springbok cutting back inside to evade two cover-tacklers and score the second, crucial try.

Tian Schoeman converted for a 20-14 lead, but the Bulls defence still had to hold out at the end, Ismaiel and fullback Warrick Gelant combining to tackle left wing Raymond Rhule out on the corner flag in the last play of the game.

It was typical of the spirited defence the Bulls showed all night and the determination of the team not to lose, despite how badly they were playing, must please coach Nollis Marais.

But the Bulls must still do more when they have the ball and their skills have to be better if they are to be a force in SuperRugby. They have the pace and power out wide, but too often they are running from deep, which stifles their attacking efforts.

The Bulls will be enjoying a bye next week, but then they host the Crusaders and Highlanders on successive weekends and they will be far more ruthless in punishing the many errors they are still making.

Points scorers

Bulls: Tries – Jacques Potgieter, Jesse Kriel. Conversions – Tian Schoeman (2). Penalties – Schoeman (2).

Cheetahs: Try – Paul Schoeman. Penalties – Niel Marais (3).