Ken Borland

Bulls coach Jake White has refused to release an injury report this week ahead of their SuperRugby Unlocked opener against Griquas at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, and the reason became clear on Thursday when he announced a team missing several of the stars from their impressive warm-up against the Sharks a fortnight ago.

White has decided not to risk the “niggling” injuries captain Duane Vermeulen, dazzling new wing Kurt-Lee Arendse and experienced loose forward Nizaam Carr have suffered and he has also been shorn of the services of hooker Schalk Erasmus for six weeks, after surgery on a twisted ankle.

So flank Arno Botha, who has made an impressive return to South African rugby, will lead the team against Griquas and Tim Agaba will start at eighthman. The tall David Kriel looked a threat when he came on in the second half against the Sharks and he will replace Arendse at left wing, while the Bulls have good cover at hooker with Corniel Els starting and the exciting young Johan Grobbelaar on the bench.

“Duane has a bang on the leg from last week’s Springbok Showdown and he’ll be fine, but with us playing for five weeks in a row we cannot afford to risk him pushing through. We can afford to give other guys opportunity though and it’s a great chance to see how Tim, who everyone speaks highly of, goes along with the first-choice pack.

“Kurt-Lee is also injured, he has a contusion on his quad and for someone who needs to run a lot, that’s a risk. He’ll be ready next week. Schalk has had an operation on an ankle roll and we know he’ll be ready in six weeks, whereas if we’d treated it conservatively it could reoccur. Nizaam has a bang on his knee so I couldn’t pick him.

“All the teams seem to have a lot of niggles because of the lack of rugby and contact. I suppose I could pick these guys if I really wanted to, but we can’t afford it with our schedule if they have niggles. That’s why I don’t want to give my injury report on a Monday because then the opposition then basically knows my team at the start of the week and I wanted to see if some of these guys could pull through,” White said on Thursday.

The one area where White has taken something of a risk is at tighthead prop, however, with Trevor Nyakane chosen despite spending the week in Cape Town in quarantine because he had been in close proximity with fellow Springbok Oupa Mohoje, who has tested positive for Covid-19.

“Trevor had a training program in Cape Town and he’s been able to stick to that. Of course it’s not ideal that he hasn’t trained with us, but he’s a Springbok and important to us. He knows how we play, he’s been at every session except the last two weeks. We’ll start with him and then if he gets fatigued then we can bring the reserve [Mornay Smith] on,” White explained.

Grobbelaar has recently got over his own struggle with Covid-19 and with Lizo Gqoboka recovered from injury and starting loosehead Jacques van Rooyen having arrived at the Bulls and impressed, the Pretoria side have plenty of front-row experience for a clash in which the first battle will be up front.

Team – Gio Aplon, Travis Ismaiel, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel, Morne Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Tim Agaba, Arno Botha, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Jason Jenkins, Trevor Nyakane, Corniel Els, Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Lizo Gqoboka, Mornay Smith, Sintu Manjezi, Elrigh Louw, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Bulls coach Nollis Marais admitted that his team were never able to produce the attacking play they are aiming for after they went down 31-8 to the Waratahs in Sydney at the weekend, leaving them with must-win games against the Stormers and Lions at home over the next fortnight.

The Bulls only crossed the tryline in the 74^th minute against the Waratahs, at which stage the game was already gone, having spent most of the second half pegged back in their own territory.

“We’re focusing on how we want to play and I know it did not look like that today. We were in the game in the first half, but we weren’t accurate enough, we should have scored but we didn’t use those opportunities. The next 30 minutes we weren’t in the game at all, there were too many turnovers and easy exits for the Waratahs.

“But they are a good, experienced side and there’s a huge difference in the number of caps between the two sides. We always knew that it would be a long road this year with a dozen guys making their SuperRugby debuts. But we have to be better next week against the Stormers, our arch-enemies, and then against the Lions. We have to beat those teams if we are to have hopes of contending,” Marais said.

While there was some endeavour in the first half, the Bulls played slow, risk-free rugby after the break, but still managed to make numerous mistakes, and it sadly resembled much of the rugby they played last year before Marais came in with his new approach.

“It’s always difficult travelling and if you have five to 10 minutes when you slip tackles and concede too many penalties then you can get a hiding. We just need to focus on what we need to do better and there are so many things we need to focus on,” Marais lamented.

The Sharks have been enjoying a fortnight of input from New Zealand-born attack coach Brad Mooar and, according to veteran wing Odwa Ndungane, the specialist advice centred around being able to pick the right time to turn defence into offence.

“It’s been nice to have Brad around because the Kiwis have been the leading attacking teams. It’s about creating something out of nothing and he’s given us some small ideas. It’s about vision, decision-making and also confidence. The structure is there, but we need to see the opportunities when they present themselves elsewhere. The call might be to go left, but then there’s space on the right and everyone needs to adapt, everyone needs to know what to do,” Ndungane told The Citizen on Thursday.

The Sharks were in the bottom five for tries scored in the 2014 SuperRugby tournament, with just 32 in 16 matches, and Ndungane admitted their sluggishness on attack needed to be sorted out.

“We had our fair share of criticism for not scoring tries, but we want to play and score tries, so we’ll take any help we can get. Brad tweaked a few small things, the structure’s there but it’s just about shaping it to use all opportunities. It comes down to knowing when to play, about opportunities in the right areas.

“A lot of times last season I could see space on the outside, but it’s about having confidence in the guys around you. Everyone needs to be aware and communicating and the inside players mustn’t take up the space,” the Springbok said.

Ndungane said sharpening their skills in terms of running lines, catching and passing and when to push off or cut back in, was part of Mooar’s sessions, and the Southland coach told The Sharks website that his goal was to provide the team with the weapons to carry out the greater attacking emphasis that new coach Gary Gold wants.

“It’s about looking at different ways of attacking, looking at the little things,” Mooar said. “This is a very simple game, but as coaches we tend to over-complicate things. We need to go back to basics, so this is really simple stuff.

“Somewhere between the South African philosophy and the New Zealand philosophy is a very powerful beast. The main difference between rugby in the two countries is simply a decision-making thing. In New Zealand we are a lot more comfortable allowing opportunity over system. In South Africa, traditionally it’s been a lot more system-based. When an opportunity is presented, you must stay in the system, but if space opens, why not play it?

“I think that would be the key difference. Once that happens, it’s about providing the skills around that. What do we need to make that happen?

“The players are more than keen to learn; they have been outstanding. I think they are quite keen to attack, and it might not always be about attacking more, just attacking better.

“There are a lot of big men and good athletes here, but it’s about a mindset – becoming and being comfortable playing and taking opportunities. Knowing that if they have a go they’re not going to be criticised on Monday,” Mooar said.