Ken Borland

The Bulls acknowledge that Saturday’s United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld is a 50/50 game, but they will go into the knockout clash with fresh minds and bodies, happy with the rugby they are playing.

Walt Steenkamp has had a pleasing impact in the No.4 jersey since joining the Bulls from the Free State Cheetahs in November 2020, and he said the pack are so content with how they are operating as a unit that they are even happy to see the backs score all the tries!

“The team relies a lot on us for front-foot ball and it was nice to see only backs scoring against Ospreys in our last match, so we can give the credit to them,” Steenkamp said with a smile on Tuesday.

“We have played so much rugby this year, so the break since then has given us the chance to rest our sore bodies. And myself and Ruan Nortje have enjoyed a good combination at lock.

“They always say altitude matters, but the Sharks have played here a lot, they would have prepared for it, plus they come from a place with high humidity, so it’s a 50/50 game.

“But playing finals rugby is about having a mindset change, because if you lose then you’re out. So we have to give 100% and Jake White is a great coach who knows how to play finals rugby,” Steenkamp said.

The Bulls have lost both their URC matches against the Sharks this season, largely due to some terrible discipline and getting a mauling in the scrums. Those are the two areas Steenkamp highlighted as requiring improvement on Saturday.

“The Sharks lineout and scrum is good, but we have plans for them,” Steenkamp said. “We have conceded four or five penalties a game at scrum time against them, so we’ve worked hard on that.

“You get different interpretations at the scrums, so we plan for the referees as well and try and show them good pictures.

“But also, the last time we played the Sharks, we played 60 minutes with 14 men because of a red card, so discipline is also very important.

“The Sharks pack is always very good as a whole, there are no weaknesses. But we think we can put pressure there. It’s finals rugby, but we will still stick to what works for us,” Steenkamp said.

Stormers great Bob Skinstad played 24 Tests in South Africa’s No.8 jersey and he believes his former team’s current eighthman, Evan Roos, has much to offer in a Springboks squad.

Roos is an integral part of the Stormers team that will be playing in the United Rugby Championship quarterfinals this weekend, hosting Edinburgh in Cape Town, but he will also be thinking about the possibility of being named in the Springbok squad for the first time. National coach Jacques Nienaber has said he will only announce his squad once the playoffs are over.

Skinstad, who played 42 Tests in all and was one of the best ball-players South African rugby has ever seen, said on Monday that he is thrilled by the expansive rugby the Stormers backs are playing, but said it is inspired by the work of the forwards on their inside.

“I love watching the Stormers matches because they are playing such great counter-attacking rugby. They’re trying to win by scoring more points than the opposition, rather than by just squeezing them.

“Leolin Zas is the leading try-scorer in the competition and an amazing finisher, but he’s doing it off the breaks of the players inside him. The beauty of the Stormers’ play is the linking between their carrying forwards.

“Like Evan Roos, who gets those extra three or four metres and then puts in the little offload, which can really break open the game. He also brings ball-carrying in the wide channels and is very hard to stop from five metres out.

“Evan would be an asset for the Springboks, although he won’t just necessarily burst into the starting line-up. But he can certainly add value in and around the squad, or even off the bench,” Skinstad, who is part of the Premier Sports broadcast team for the URC, said.

With more peace in the Western Province RFU boardroom these days and the team having done so well in the URC, Skinstad also said the Stormers, with an eye on the European Champions Cup next season, should be prime candidates for the sort of equity partners that have elevated the Sharks and Bulls.

“The Stormers have been in a bit of a state of flux lately, but their results have not been bad now, so there is a germ of real value there. If I was a big sports group I would really think there’s incredible value there.

“They have an incredible player base, school system, stadium and Cape Town is an amazing place,” Skinstad said.

A top-class Springbok halfback pairing and a debut for Ruan Vermaak were the highlights of the Bulls Currie Cup team announced on Thursday as they prepare for what they expect to be a very tough challenge from the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Morne Steyn and Embrose Papier will start at flyhalf and scrumhalf respectively, while lock Vermaak, fresh from completing his stint with the Red Hurricanes in Japan, will add some beef against what will be a very combative Pumas pack.

Loosehead prop Lizo Gqoboka, who led from the front in the exciting win against a URC-strength Lions side, will once again captain the Bulls and he is expecting another fierce battle up front. Especially since the Pumas are eagerly trying to break into a semi-final place inside the top-four.

“The Pumas are known for their fight, they will play till the end. They will bring a lot of physicality and will be very desperate. We’re also hungry and we’re not in a position to underestimate anyone,” Gqoboka, still sporting a bruise to his cheek and a bloodshot eye from the Lions game, said.

“You can see we’re not taking anything for granted from the team we have picked, we really want that home final. The fact that players have to double up in the URC shows we really want to keep the Currie Cup.

“We are very serious about it, we are number one on the log at the moment, but we still have two more games.

“It’s quite special to be in this position in both competitions, and it speaks to the strategy of backing the players. This union really supports good depth, quality and competition within the squad,” Gqoboka said.

With the URC quarterfinals now upon them and the Currie Cup in a similar knockout phase if the Bulls want to top the log and earn the right to host the final, the defending champions are now focusing on trying to put together that perfect 80-minute game. In their last two matches, against the Lions and Griquas, the Bulls have allowed their opposition back into the game in the second half.

“We’re working the whole time on an 80-minute-plus performance,” coach Gert Smal said on Thursday. “Especially later in the game, it’s important to have things in place and the guys that come on must pick it up.

“As a player and as a team, it’s firstly about discipline, not conceding unnecessary yellow cards. We’ve been working hard on putting together a good second half. We’re going to need that perfect game now against some very good teams,” Smal said.

Bulls team:James Verity-Amm, David Kriel, Stedman Gans, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Richard Kriel, Morne Steyn, Embrose Papier; Muller Uys, Reinhardt Ludwig, WJ Steenkamp, Janko Swanepoel, Ruan Vermaak, Robert Hunt, Bismarck du Plessis, Lizo Gqoboka (CAPT). IMPACT-Sidney Tobias, Simphiwe Matanzima, Francois Kloppers, Raynard Roets, Stephan Smit, Keagan Johannes, Juan Mostert, Tharquinn Manuel.

Saturday’s games: Griquas v Free State (Kimberley, 2.30pm); Golden Lions v Western Province (Johannesburg, 5pm).

The success of the alignment camps and the likelihood that there will not be any Covid bubbles to negotiate means Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is in no rush to name his squad for the incoming series against Wales in July and will wait until the URC plays itself out.

Nienaber, speaking at SA Rugby’s announcement of a three-year initiative with Betway called Next Phase, which will develop the women’s game through growing coaching capacity, said his squad has not even been chosen yet. Wales announced their touring group on May 18.

“I’ll announce the squad only after the players have completed their commitments with their franchises,” Nienaber said in Rosebank on Thursday. “They don’t need to hear from the national coach now, just their franchise coaches.

“We haven’t yet had our selection meeting, although there is a certain group that we are looking at. We know who we’re looking at, we’ve had alignment camps, but we’ll let the teams play their URC playoffs first.

“The Welsh teams are already all out of the URC, so Wales can already be in camp, but it’s going to be more staggered for us, with players joining us as their teams fall out. The overseas players are in the same position.

“Last year it was very tough to plan, almost impossible, you’d have 10 different scenarios and see what pans out. This year looks like normal and hopefully there won’t be any bubbles to contend with,” Nienaber said.

While only a handful of players from the UK tour last November will be nervous about the beul’s axe hanging over their heads, Nienaber said he was heartened by the performances of the South African teams in the United Rugby Championship.

“I was encouraged by all four teams, all of them have played excellent rugby. Even the Lions did well with their comeback, they had a great winning streak here.”

Nienaber, who helped out with the coaching of the Springbok women’s team in 2014/15, said Next Phase came from an epiphany that their approach was wrong back then.

“Women’s rugby is on another development level and we probably made a mistake trying to foist a men’s programme on them back in 2014/15. The basics are not necessarily there with the girls because they start playing so late.

“You need to build the basics and then put the next layer in, which is adding the creative plans. I became a better coach through my involvement with them,” Nienaber said.