Ken Borland

With the focus firmly on the Currie Cup semifinal next weekend, Bulls coach Jake White has returned the first-choice halfback pairing of Morne Steyn and Ivan van Zyl to starting action against the Pumas on Sunday, but no-one else travelling to Nelspruit is guaranteed to be involved in the team to play the Lions at Loftus Versfeld.

Having beaten the Lions in midweek in Pretoria, the result against the Pumas cannot change the fact that the Bulls will finish top of the log. With three games in 10 days, White on Saturday announced 11 changes to the team that won the Gauteng derby.

Due to the Covid infection that swept through the squad, the in-form Steyn and Van Zyl have not started a match in a month, and White is obviously looking for them to provide the guidance needed to a very inexperienced backline against the hassling strategies of the Pumas, who always look to put the opposition off their game-plan.

White has also increased the pressure on them by choosing a new-look tight five in which lock Jan Uys is the only player to retain his place.

Uys impressed against the Lions and another strong performance against the Pumas could see him force himself into the reckoning for the semi-final, depending on the fitness of Walt Steenkamp and Sintu Manjezi.

Loose forward Arno Botha, who will captain the team in Nelspruit, could also bring his physical presence to the semi-final, while wing Stravino Jacobs certainly improved his chances of playing with his solid showing in midweek.

The Bulls will at least have a more experienced replacement front row on the bench, with hooker Johan Grobbelaar and props Lizo Gqoboka and Marcel van der Merwe trying to ensure they stay in the squad for the semi-final.

Bulls: Clinton Swart, Jade Stighling, Marnus Potgieter, Dawid Kellerman, Stravino Jacobs, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Tim Agaba, Arno Botha (capt), WJ Steenkamp, Janko Swanepoel, Jan Uys, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Johan Grobbelaar, Lizo Gqoboka, Marcel van der Merwe, Divan Venter, Elrigh Louw, Keagan Johannes, Kabelo Mokoena, Jay-Cee Nel.

The result of their final Currie Cup round-robin match, against the Pumas in Nelspruit on Sunday afternoon, is of no consequence to the Bulls as they are already guaranteed to finish top of the log, and their semi-final is already set to be against the Lions next weekend at Loftus Versfeld, where they will play the final if they beat their Gauteng neighbours.

The Bulls will only name their team for the Pumas clash on Saturday, because they are awaiting the results of Covid tests, which can only be done 48 hours after their last match, which was their win over the Lions in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Apart from hoping that all his players return negative results for Covid, coach Jake White will also be keeping an eye on which players have now completed their return-to-play protocols after being infected with the virus. He obviously wants to field his best possible XV in the semi-final next weekend so, ideally, White would like those first-choice players who were unable to return against the Lions in midweek to get some game time against the Pumas. Given that it has now been more than three weeks since a large chunk of starters saw competitive action, match-fitness is going to be a crucial part of the Bulls’ planning.

The backline has been particularly hard hit with Cornal Hendricks, Stedman Gans and Kurt-Lee Arendse all still waiting for the all-clear at this stage. But the performance of Stravino Jacobs, the 31-year-old Tongan international, this week has provided White with another definite option on the wing or even at centre.

“I was happy with Stravino Jacobs, in his first start, to play the way he did was very pleasing. We can certainly build on that going forward,” White said after the win over the Lions.

Jan Uys at lock is another player who showed that he could play an important role at this late stage of the season.

“We did struggle a bit in the lineouts against the Lions, but we had a hooker [Schalk Erasmus] who has just come out of the U21s. But Jan Uys played his first game and he showed how good he is, you must be to play 60 times for Brive. Jan is not here for big money but he really wants to play for the Bulls. He’s a hidden gem, very positive and hardworking.

“How we cut our cloth is going to be very important and I’m very thankful for guys like Jan, especially for their contribution off the field. I’m very happy he got the chance to play in a winning side,” White said.

Bulls coach Jake White had every right to feel delighted that his team, despite playing with a new-look backline and a pack that has only trained together for three days in the last three weeks, were able to see off the high-flying Lions 22-15 in their Currie Cup clash at Loftus Versfeld and so ensure that they will finish top of the log.

It means the Bulls will be able to take on the Pumas in Nelspruit on Sunday with a second-string outfit and not risk any home ground advantage. Having weathered a Covid outbreak and not played any rugby for three weeks, the Bulls can focus on getting ready for their semi-final against the selfsame Lions on January 15/16; as White said “there is no need to risk any players” this weekend.

“I expected us to struggle because we were playing with four U21s in the backline with basically a whole backline unable to start, and we’ve hardly trained because of Covid, we only had three days together. So it was always going to be difficult, it was always going to take time to get going. But I must compliment the fightback, we didn’t have the ball at the start but once we had it I knew we would start believing.

“I’m very pleased, finishing top of the log is great for us and it means we can play our best team against the Lions again in the semis. Given our circumstances, we were not going to be able to afford to play everyone for 80 minutes so the bench would always have to come on and make an impact, and they did, which is always nice to see. I’m very happy with what I saw today,” White said on Wednesday evening.

While the worst of the Covid outbreak has passed, White acknowledged that it was still causing vacancies in the team as players took varying lengths of time to complete their recoveries. So while there will certainly be changes for the Pumas game, some players are simply not yet match-fit enough to be considered.

“For a lot of guys, their return-to-play protocols are not yet good enough so I’m not sure yet what sort of team I will field against the Pumas. I’ll sleep on it and see what the niggles and injuries are like after this game. A lot of guys have now tested negative but still have to go through the return-to-play protocols, which measure things like heart-rate. For some of them it was too much of a risk to put them in a game situation.

“Hopefully they will all be fine in another 10 days time for the semi-final, but there’s no guarantee, we don’t know how long it will take when it comes to these respiratory things,” White said.

The one thing that can be guaranteed though when the Lions come to Loftus Versfeld again to take on the Bulls in their semi-final will be another suffocating physical display by the pack and a watertight defence.

“We want it to be difficult to play at Loftus but you’d have to admit our forward pack, in all departments, hasn’t always been up to expectations. The Bulls want their pack to dominate and I’m chuffed that people can see the Bulls pack has definitely taken a step up. And I’m very happy with the defence too because the Lions are a very good attacking side.

“To defend like that – and with a new group of players – was very pleasing. Not many teams have come here and scored many tries, which is good for us. To have such a good defensive performance and with new personnel was great. It’s defence coach Joey Mongalo’s birthday today so I’m sure he would have really enjoyed that and will be celebrating,” White said.

There was not much adventurous rugby on display at a damp Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday as the Bulls edged out the Lions 22-15 in their Currie Cup match to ensure they will finish top of the log.

The Bulls scored the only try of the game, soon after halftime, but otherwise relied on four penalties by flyhalf Chris Smith for the win.

Those four penalties came after a torrid start by the Bulls, who struggled to find their rhythm having not played for three weeks. They struggled in particular at the scrums and fullback Tiaan Swanepoel kicked three penalties to give the Lions a 9-0 lead after 18 minutes.

But, incredibly, the Bulls went into halftime 12-9 ahead as their scrum shifted the momentum and began to dominate, with Smith kicking penalties in the 22^nd, 25^th, 35^th and 40^th minutes. Three of those penalties had their genesis at the scrum, although one of them was a harsh call against a dominant Lions set-piece.

The Bulls then took control of the game after 46 minutes thanks to scrumhalf Embrose Papier’s try. In a clinical start to the second half, the Bulls won a kicking battle and a lineout just outside the Lions’ 22 as Swanepoel blinked first and made a mistake. The Lions then infringed at the rolling maul, allowing the Bulls to set a lineout deep inside the 22.

The Lions almost stole the throw but knocked on, and Bulls eigthman Duane Vermeulen burst from the dominant scrum and popped a pass to Papier, who fought his way over the line for a fine finish. Smith’s conversion put the Bulls 19-9 up.

Swanepoel was able to give the Lions a sniff of a comeback with penalties in the 60^th and 65^th minutes to bring the score back to 15-19. But the Bulls were able to counter the Lions’ maul through means fair and foul, and it was ironic that referee Cwengile Jadezweni would give Lions replacement prop Ruan Dreyer a yellow card for collapsing a drive in the 77^th minute. Morne Steyn kicked the penalty to give the Bulls a 22-15 lead.

The Lions finished the match desperately trying to salvage a draw with several penalties and rolling mauls. Bulls flank Marco van Staden was eventually yellow-carded for collapsing the drive, but the Lions lost the ball shortly thereafter and failed to secure themselves a home semi-final.

Scorers

Bulls: Try – Embrose Papier. Conversion – Chris Smith. Penalties –Smith (4), Morne Steyn.

Lions: Penalties – Tiaan Swanepoel (5).