Ken Borland

While Morne Steyn says the level of expectation that he can singlehandedly turn around the Bulls is unrealistic, the veteran Springbok flyhalf admits that he relishes being the general and he knows that he certainly won’t be a fringe player in Saturday’s crunch Super Rugby Unlocked match against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld.

The 36-year-old Steyn is the last link to the Bulls’ glory days of 2007-2010 when they won three Super Rugby titles but he cannot turn a rebuilding team into a trophy-winning side on his own. But South Africa’s leading all-time points-scorer in the competition – his tally of 1449 is second only to Dan Carter’s 1708 – believes Jake White’s team is on the verge of something good.

But having stuttered to victory over lowly Griquas and going down to the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein in their first two matches this season, the Bulls really need to beat the Sharks, the pacesetters in South African rugby before Covid-19 struck, if they are to convince their fans.

“Especially after the loss to the Cheetahs, this is a big game for us, we need this one. It’s not as if we’ve lost three in a row, but we need to get back on the winning path quickly. It’s going to be difficult against the Sharks, but we had a good game against them four weeks ago and the vibe in the team is good. There are a lot of youngsters but Jake is handling them well and is giving us positive talk the whole time.

“Their kicking game was quite a weapon for the Sharks when we last played, but we handled it quite well. I can’t win matches on my own, but I enjoy being the general and making the tactical calls, and it makes it easier having Springboks like Duane Vermeulen, Ivan van Zyl and Embrose Papier around me. I just need to focus on my kicking game to make sure it’s 100% because Curwin Bosch is also a great kicker of the ball. It’s definitely going to be a battle between the flyhalves and I’m excited, it’s going to be a good day,” Steyn said at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday.

The presence of more than a dozen Springboks scattered between the two sides should certainly see Saturday’s game recapture the intensity of the best of Super Rugby local derbies, and Steyn, while obviously sad for them that they won’t be playing in the Rugby Championship this year, said playing rugby domestically could lead to a much-needed revival of the Currie Cup.

“It was a difficult choice for the Springboks not to play, but the great thing, and maybe what the country needs, is for all those big names to be playing in the local competition. It’s going to be lovely to have the Springboks playing and maybe the Currie Cup will get back to what it used to be. It’s a good time to make it bigger, make it what it once was.

“I am a bit heartsore about there being no more Super Rugby, it was a great competition, but I was getting a bit tired of it to be honest, it’s time for something different. Europe is where we must now go, that’s where the money is and it’s just a 10-hour flight, I think the move is better for South African rugby. Now they just have to make sure the Springboks can play together to gel as a team before the British Lions tour,” the former Top 14 winner with Stade Francais said.

The Sharks were thumped 49-28 by the Bulls in a marvellous display of running rugby the last time they met – on SuperFan Saturday at the end of last month – giving the KwaZulu-Natalians plenty to think about ahead of their Super Rugby Unlocked match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

These are the areas they are pondering on the most:

• Matching the physicality of the Bulls – The Bulls dominated the Sharks from the outset with their power game, blowing them off the park up front. To fix that requires as much of a mental change as a physical response.

“The Bulls are a physical side so we expect that again and we have to match their physicality. That requires a change of mindset from us so we can do what we do best. It was a bad experience up there last time, but we learnt a lot,” scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba said on Tuesday.

• Kicking game – Normally a strength of the Sharks, but the Bulls, helped by all that front-foot ball, had the edge in their last meeting and three missed high balls cost Sean Everitt’s team dearly. The Sharks kickers need to sharpen up and be more accurate.

“Our kicking was not as sharp as it should have been, we need to fix that so we take the counter-attacking opportunities away; if we’re accurate with the boot then that’s sorted,” Nohamba said.

• Breakdowns – The Bulls dominated the gain-line and Marco van Staden had a pilferer’s field day in the rucks. The Sharks need a greater collective effort to get quicker ball and therefore the momentum their game-plan relies upon. Quick ball from source means good ball to use, slow ball makes it difficult to get momentum, to get over the gain-line and shift the pressure. Being under pressure themselves led to more turnovers – a vicious circle.
• Set-pieces – It’s not that the Sharks were terrible in the scrums and lineouts, but they know it’s an area where they cannot afford to give the Bulls an edge.

“The set-piece is always a work-on because every team is different so you have to prepare differently, your tactics change every week. It’s an obvious strength of the Bulls and we accept the challenge. Our front row is still gelling, Dylan Richardson is new at No.2 but is a very good hooker and everyone knows how destructive Ox Nche can be,” tighthead prop Thomas du Toit said on Tuesday.

While there is obvious disappointment in the Bulls camp over their loss to the Cheetahs last weekend, lock Sintu Manjezi says they are still in the early stages of the Super Rugby Unlocked competition and they are confident that if they focus on the type of rugby they are capable of producing, then they can see off the challenge of the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls have the pleasing memory of thumping the Sharks 49-28, with seven tries, in their last meeting, on SuperFan Saturday at the end of last month, and Manjezi said that match provides the template of how they want to play.

“Last weekend didn’t go our way which was obviously disappointing, but we missed a few opportunities in the 22 and that’s something we’ll look to rectify. We just need to keep our focus, we’re only two games into the competition and we need to stick to our basics and stay within the system which protects us. We need to stick to what we do well.

“The type of rugby we want to play is to move the ball, but we’ve also shown that we can play it tight and keep the ball moving up in the forwards. The positive from SuperFan Saturday was that we were able to play off the Sharks’ mistakes and able to convert those opportunities. But the Sharks will also try to play off turnovers and they will put us under pressure with kicks,” Manjezi said.

The 25-year-old powerhouse said that while coach Jake White has encouraged his players to play with freedom, he still expects his trusty lieutenants up front to do the groundwork, as the Bulls pack certainly did against the Sharks in their previous clash.

“Coach Jake allows us to express ourselves, we’re not stuck in a box and not allowed to play the rugby we want to. But to play the rugby we want to, we need to sap the opposition forwards, get front-foot ball and play in the right areas. We want to win those set-pieces, and we’ve been good up front, we didn’t concede any maul tries against the Cheetahs.

“We also won 14 out of 17 lineouts and we contested well, which gave us good results. The forwards have got to show up again on Saturday to make the difference because the Sharks have a decent set-piece. We will try to put them under pressure, and then we can move the ball, but we know us forwards have to really pitch up to do that,” Manjezi said.

Veteran Springbok fullback Gio Aplon is out for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL ligament at the weekend but his likely replacement, David Kriel, is an exciting prospect for the Bulls, and the Sharks, who will no doubt be subjecting him to an aerial barrage at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, should be warned that the 21-year-old is a dangerous customer.

Aplon will undergo surgery on Wednesday and his recovery will take several months. The Super Rugby Unlocked competition ends on November 21, but will be followed by a Currie Cup competition, for which all log points will be transferred.

Kriel has so far been selected on the wing for the Bulls, but impressed when he moved to fullback to replace Aplon early on in the weekend’s game against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein. Apart from Kriel’s threat with ball in hand – he is an elusive runner – the Potchefstroom-born product was also solid and composed under the high ball.

So who is David Kriel?

• He is the older brother of Richard, who has been at the Bulls since 2018. David was formerly part of the Stormers squad but did not get a game and moved to Pretoria in May. David and Richard opposed each other in last year’s national U21 final, both playing fullback for Western Province and the Blue Bulls respectively.

“The competition is good for both of us, even though I think my brother is the better rugby player. But it makes it easier to adapt to the move with him being here. Ever since our days at Grey College, when we only had half-a-season together in the 1^st XV before he got injured in 2017, my matric year, I’ve always dreamt of us reuniting. Ever since that season got cut short, I’ve wanted to play in the same team as him and I’m very happy to have him here with me,” David Kriel said on Monday.

• Given how quickly he has settled into the Super Rugby Unlocked team, he is clearly comfortable in Pretoria.

“Things have started happening quicker than I thought they would, but you have to always be ready for your opportunity and I like to think I was. Every day at Loftus is like a dream, I was a young kid when Morne Steyn won the series here against the British Lions, Gio Aplon was also a Springbok when I was growing up, so it’s an indescribable feeling to play with these guys. I feel very sorry for Gio and I wish him a speedy recovery, we will miss his experience. To have the faith of the senior men around here has really helped my learning curve, and every day it grows a bit more. And Fourie du Preez was here helping us the other day, he’s another World Cup winner so that can only be good,” Kriel said.

• Fullback is his first-choice position.

“I’m very excited to maybe be the first-choice fullback now, at 21 years old, not many have played in the No.15 jersey for the Bulls. I can’t wait to show off my worth, my first-choice position is fullback and having a big kicking boot helps there,” Kriel said.

• The Bulls may have lost last weekend to the Cheetahs, but Kriel has fond memories of his first match in the famous light blue jersey, when they hammered the Sharks on SuperFan Saturday last month.

“Obviously we didn’t want the loss in Bloemfontein, but I don’t think our self-confidence has taken a knock, we showed good character to come back against a quality side. As for the Sharks, our performance on SuperFan Saturday is still fresh in our memories and we will try to play like that again. The Sharks rely on a strong kicking game and I’m sure I’m ready, dealing with high balls is a fullback’s main job.

“We want to focus more on keeping ball-in-hand like we did on SuperFan Saturday. It was a friendly so we were all more comfortable expressing ourselves, but I think we should go with the same mentality even though it is a game with stakes and consequences. Overall it will mean we are more relaxed and therefore more clinical. That’s what Jake White said, we must keep the ball and be more relaxed,” Kriel said.