Ken Borland

The Bulls will bring a top-class pack, a backline studded with great young talent and a burning desire to score more tries into next year’s SuperRugby competition, according to coach Frans Ludeke.

A difficult 2013 saw the Bulls finish in ninth place, one win off the playoffs, while their Currie Cup campaign ended in the semi-finals against eventual champions Western Province.

Ludeke said yesterday that a review of the season had provided a clear indication that the Bulls needed to change their game plan.

“Since 2009, the team that has scored the most tries in the competition has won SuperRugby, so we clearly need to have a new shape to our play, we need to score more tries. Bonus points are also crucial in getting you that home semi-final,” Ludeke told The Citizen.

The exciting Handre Pollard will spearhead that effort from flyhalf and the Bulls have plenty of depth in midfield with Jan Serfontein, JJ Engelbrecht, Burger Odendaal (the find of the Currie Cup) and William Small-Smith, and two experienced wings in Akona Ndungane and Bjorn Basson.

Jesse Kriel is an exciting young talent at fullback, where he will be competing with Ulrich Beyers and Jurgen Visser for the number 15 jersey.

Although the emphasis will be on scoring more tries, Ludeke said they will continue to use their traditional strengths of powerful ball-carrying forwards to lay the platform and the coach can call on an all-Springbok pack in Pierre Spies, Arno Botha, Deon Stegmann, Victor Matfield, Flip van der Merwe, Marcel van der Merwe, Adriaan Strauss and Dean Greyling.

SuperRugby places a massive burden on the players, however, so there is a premium on having depth so players can be rotated and the Bulls seem well-placed in this regard with players such as Trevor Nyakane, Bandise Maku, Werner Kruger, Grant Hattingh, Lappies Labuschagne, Jacques du Plessis and Jacques Engelbrecht.

With the ball in play for an average of more than 40 minutes in the last three years of SuperRugby, Ludeke also said he will be focusing on improving the players’ conditioning and skills to deal with the faster-paced game.

The Bulls have come through a difficult period in which they have lost 50 players in five years, but Ludeke believes the new crop of players have begun to settle. They have tremendous potential at Loftus Versfeld and the Bulls have shown glimpses of that in being unbeaten at home in the 2013 SuperRugby competition.

“We have been competitive, but we haven’t been consistent. We won everything at home, but we lost all our away matches,” Ludeke said. “We made too many crucial errors at crucial times. We would dominate possession and play in the right areas, but make a mistake and the opposition would score from 70 metres out.”

To be fair to Ludeke, 2013 was a year in which he had to rebuild the team once again and several inexperienced players were tossed into the furnace. To expect total consistency and error-free rugby from such players is unrealistic in a tournament as demanding as SuperRugby.

But with a more settled squad and a year’s more experience, Ludeke is looking forward to better execution from his players next year.

SuperRugby training squad

Backs:  Jesse Kriel, Duncan Matthews, Warrick Gelant, Jurgen Visser, Akona Ndungane, Travis Ismaiel, Bjorn Basson, Jamba Ulengo, JJ Engelbrecht, William Small-Smith, Dries Swanepoel, Jan Serfontein, Ulrich Beyers, Dan Kriel, Burger Odendaal, Handre Pollard, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Tian Schoeman, Kobus Marais, Francois Hougaard, Piet van Zyl, Rudy Paige, Ivan van Zyl, Carlo Engelbrecht.

Forwards:  Pierre Spies, Hanro Liebenberg, Arno Botha, Jacques du Plessis, Nardus van der Walt, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Jacques Engelbrecht, Deon Stegmann, Lappies Labuschagne, Roelof Smit, Victor Matfield, Grant Hattingh, Marvin Orie, RG Snyman, Flip van der Merwe, Irne Herbst, Jason Jenkins, Werner Kruger, Marcel van der Merwe, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Hencus van Wyk, Basil Short, Adriaan Strauss, Bandise Maku, Callie Visagie, Jaco Visagie, Arno van Wyk, Dean Greyling, Morne Mellett, Trevor Nyakane, Pierre Schoeman.

Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke on Sunday praised his team’s mental strength and belief after they rose from the canvas like a champion boxer and beat the Toyota Free State Cheetahs 31-22 in their crucial Absa Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein at the weekend.

The game was effectively a knockout fixture for the Bulls because defeat would have ended their chances of making the semi-finals, and their worst fears seem to have been realised when Free State flyhalf Willie du Plessis landed a drop goal in the 73^rd minute to give the home side a 22-21 lead.

But the Bulls then kept the ball for multiple phases, showing excellent ball-retention, and the relentless driving of their forwards and some good incursions by outside backs Sampie Mastriet and Ulrich Beyers set up a penalty for Jacques-Louis Potgieter.

The Bulls then had to defend their 24-22 lead with all their might as the Cheetahs battered away on attack, before replacement flank Wian Liebenberg charged down another attempted drop goal by Du Plessis, the ball rebounding for Mastriet to streak away for a try, Potgieter’s angled conversion denying the home side what could be a crucial bonus point.

“It’s the first time since 2008 that we’ve won in a Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein and that shows what a special effort that was. So I’m very happy, mentally to be able to come back after they had taken the lead was great. Normally when a home side does that at the end of a game, they hang on to win. But we had the belief and we worked the ball around well at the end and it was a huge defensive effort,” Ludeke told The Citizen on Sunday.

Ludeke singled out the finishing of wing Mastriet, who is certainly giving the Bulls plenty of spark on attack, for praise.

“Sampie was the difference between the two sides with his finishing. But there were a lot of other positives, we had control for a long time and our scrum was another highlight,” Ludeke said.

The Cheetahs were getting such a hiding in that set-piece that barely a scrum was completed without referee Marius van der Westhuizen penalising them.

When Mastriet scored his first try in the 23^rd minute, the Bulls had opened up a solid 11-3 lead, but their discipline then went awry, allowing Du Plessis to kick two penalties. Potgieter was yellow-carded just before half-time and lock Paul Willemse followed him on the hour mark, getting the Cheetahs strongly back into the game.

“Ja, discipline was a factor, they were able to maul from penalties and that got the Cheetahs back into the game. But discipline we can easily fix, sometimes the guys were just too keen to get turnovers. We just need to make better decisions, at the mauls too in terms of when to contest because if you miss in the air then you’re in a position of weakness to defend,” Ludeke said.

Lwazi Mvovo was a consistent threat to the Bulls defence

Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke admitted after his team’s 26-15 defeat at the hands of the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld that the disintegration of their lineout had been the death of their chances in their Absa Currie Cup match on Saturday night.

“Our lineout collapsed tonight and you need those sort of basics in order to win, that meant we weren’t able to put pressure on the Sharks through that. The way the Sharks contested the lineout put us under huge pressure, they would move just before the call and we didn’t adapt well enough and it meant we lost a key weapon. We need to be smarter at the lineout because it has a huge mental impact in our game, if you lose your lineouts then you’re always on the back foot,” Ludeke said after the match.

The defeat left the Bulls woefully off the pace in the Currie Cup, in sixth place, five points behind the Pumas and Cheetahs, and killing the momentum from two wins in a row.

“Trusting the process is the main thing, it was able to get us out of a bad start in the competition and we had some good wins. We had some good momentum with wins at home and we don’t want to lose here. The big thing is getting the tactical decisions right under pressure,” Ludeke said.

The Bulls thoroughly dominated the first half, but only had four Jacques-Louis Potgieter penalties to show for it, adding one more in the second half, while the Sharks were able to make much better use of their possession, scoring tries through wings Lwazi Mvovo and S’bura Sithole.

But according to Ludeke, their inability to cross the tryline is not a problem.

“The reason we didn’t score any tries is because of infringements at the breakdown, we had three penalties there and that’s where tries come from. We were in control in the first 40 minutes, but every time we got three points, we wouldn’t exit properly and they would get an easy three points back. We want to build the innings and take the three-pointers,” he said.

Mvovo scored a 50-metre intercept try a minute before half-time to allow the Sharks to go into the break with a 13-12 lead despite looking totally out of the contest and at odds with referee Quinton Immelman’s interpretations.

Buoyed by the late bonus, they came out a different side in the second half and held on to their possession much better, often simply refusing to let the ball die. Their second try, nine minutes into the second half, was a case in point.

Mvovo burst clear on a splendid run off a lineout move to put the Sharks on attack, and Sithole on the right and fullback SP Marais on the left flank both went to great lengths to keep the ball alive, while eighthman and captain Tera Mthembu’s storming run took the visitors into the Bulls’ 22.

From a ruck in the 22, flyhalf Lionel Cronje then produced a deft cross-kick for Sithole to score in the corner.

Cronje added the conversion and two more penalties to complete a fine game for the former Bulls player.

“We knew it would take an 80-minute effort up here and it was great to see such huge commitment. They showed a huge amount of character, making tackle after tackle and they kept working for each other.

“We’ve struggled this year to take our opportunities, but that was good tonight which was great to see. We also had good reward at the breakdown, which kept the Bulls under pressure, while the lineouts were a huge bonus. We know they like to maul, so we were able to deprive them of the opportunity to do what they’re really good at. I’m very happy with the contesting,” Sharks coach Brad Macleod-Henderson said.

Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke on Thursday named a starting pack with just one change in it as he looks to his forwards to dominate the set-piece and the gain-line in their Absa Currie Cup match against the Xerox Golden Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Hooker Bongi Mbonambi is the only new face up front, relegating Callie Visagie to the bench, but this is an enormous contrast to the backline, where Ludeke has introduced four new players and made a positional switch.

An injury to the exciting young Jesse Kriel sees Ulrich Beyers back in the number 15 jersey, while Springbok JJ Engelbrecht returns from an injury-enforced absence at outside centre, pushing William Small-Smith out of the match-day 22 entirely.

Springbok Sevens player Jamba Ulengo is an exciting new addition to the Bulls team, making his debut on the left wing, with Sampie Mastriet shifting to number 14, replacing Akona Ndungane, who has a bruised knee.

Ludeke has also decided to back experience at flyhalf, with Jacques-Louis Potgieter returning to the number 10 jersey, but has made a change at scrumhalf, with Rudy Paige preferred to Piet van Zyl.

“Quality set-piece ball and controlling possession is going to be the key for both teams and we’re going to be striving for momentum and energy,” Ludeke said on Thursday at Loftus Versfeld.

“I’m confident Bongi will bring exactly the same at the scrum as Callie Visagie, but the Lions are a team that likes to move the ball around so we’ve elected to go for Bongi to start. Callie can come on and cement the scrum because it’s going to be a battle there for 80 minutes. He was really solid last week against Western Province, but we have two quality hookers.”

Springbok Bjorn Basson’s comeback from an ankle injury will now probably happen a week later than expected because the 27-year-old lost his grandfather on Thursday morning.

“Bjorn’s grandfather passed away unfortunately and he’s also had eight weeks off with injury and only one full day’s preparation, so we thought it would be better to give him more time off.

“The timing is exactly right for Jamba Ulengo, he’s worked hard for this opportunity and I want to see what Sevens skills he can bring to the 15s game, especially in space where he can really put the defence under pressure in broken play. He’s big, strong and fast,” Ludeke said.

“This is obviously our most important game of the season, you can call it do or die, and it’s vital for us to win to stay in the race. We don’t want the Lions playing for broken field, this is why game management when we’re with the ball and getting over the gain line is so crucial. And when we kick, we have to get out of our half,” the coach of the team languishing in sixth place on the log said.

“Jacques-Louis started the season at flyhalf and he’s an old head, he stabilises the backline and he brings calm.

“Rudy Paige and Piet van Zyl are both quality scrumhalves but we’ve gone with Rudy to start this game because he’s very quick at the base and has a good kicking game. Piet likes to take control and go for space,” Ludeke added.

Team: 15-Ulrich Beyers, 14-Sampie Mastriet, 13-JJ Engelbrecht, 12-Burger Odendaal, 11-Jamba Ulengo, 10-Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9-Rudy Paige, 8-Jono Ross, 7-Jacques du Plessis, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Grant Hattingh, 4-Paul Willemse, 3-Werner Kruger, 2-Bongi Mbonambi, 1-Dean Greyling. Replacements – 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Basil Short, 18-Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19-Jacques Engelbrecht, 20-Piet van Zyl, 21-Tony Jantjies, 22-Ryan Nell.