Ken Borland

There’s a lot to think about for the young players at Loftus Versfeld these days: Trying to win the United Rugby Championship and the Currie Cup at the same time, and then next year having the European Champions Cup as another add-on to their plate.

And for an exciting prospect like loose forward Muller Uys, who also played club rugby for Tuks last weekend, there is the added pressure of trying to nail down a place in the Bulls URC squad.

The 23-year-old Uys will no doubt pack down at the back of the scrum for the Bulls on Friday night in their Currie Cup match against the Pumas, but with Cyle Brink injuring his knee against the Ospreys last weekend, there is likely to be a place in the match-day 23 for the following weekend’s quarterfinal against the Sharks.

Uys credits the set-up at Loftus for providing both clarity and motivation for all their players.

“When I get the chance, it’s my responsibility to show I am good enough to play URC,” Uys said on Tuesday. “I need to take ownership and show what I’m worth. There’s a clear plan and the players understand.

“In terms of training with the two squads, they make it easy for us to go from Currie Cup to URC, to slot into either side. The way we prepare, it’s 100% about the long-term and that will help a lot for next year.

“My career took a bit of a different turn with injury, but I must just take it day-by-day and keep learning. I must not think I’m too old or too good to learn. In a way I’ve started afresh.

“I played club rugby for Tuks last week, it was a nice way to get game-time, keep the skills sharp. It’s an opportunity to grow and learn because maybe there are things you haven’t seen there,” Uys said.

The Bulls Currie Cup side showed their ability when they totally dominated a URC-strength Lions team in their first half of their previous Currie Cup game, before sadly going off the boil in the second half. But the 43-37 win has nevertheless given them a timely confidence boost going into the last couple of rounds.

“We’ll carry a lot of confidence from that game because the Lions had a quality side and we manned up and really went well in the first half. There’s a lot of responsibility now for us to back up that performance,” Uys said.

“We matched up physically and did quite well against the Lions, we just had to manage the game better in the final 40 minutes, both with the ball and without ball-in-hand. The Pumas will not be much different to be honest,” assistant coach Hayden Groepes said.

When Bulls director of rugby Jake White returns to his Loftus Versfeld office on Monday morning, it will be with a sense of delight over how his team got the job done in Swansea and great excitement for the future of what is still a largely young squad.

The Bulls beat the Ospreys at the weekend, 38-31, a bonus point win that was more convincing than the scoreline suggests and which ensured a home United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against the Sharks on the first weekend of June.

“We played really, really well at times and we could have won 45-24 if the ball had gone to hand when Juan Mostert threw a pass that was intercepted and Ospreys scored,” White said after the Bulls overtook the Sharks in the standings to finish fourth.

“It was a comprehensive win and I was happy with everybody. I thought we played really well tonight – the shape of our attack, the speed of our game and the quick ball from the rucks, our understanding of space and where to go.

“At times we made it look so simple against a really good team that was vying to be the top Welsh side. We did that by creating space, carrying through the middle and using tip-passes.

“To be able to do that under pressure makes it even more gratifying. I’m really looking forward to how good this team is going to be. The confidence we showed is going to be important for the next couple of years too,” White said.

While outside centre Cornal Hendricks ran the Ospreys off the park in the second half with a hat-trick of tries, there were heroes all over the field for the Bulls.

“Cornal was outstanding and I was very happy he got Man of the Match, but Canan Moodie showed why we put young guys in these positions, he knocked on in his own 22 and Ospreys scored, but then he set up his try and one for Cornal.

“Ten seconds before Mostert threw the intercept pass, he made a try-saving tackle. Ruan Nortje was very good. If he keeps playing like that, it’s going to be difficult to leave him out of the Springbok squad.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if Gerhard Steenekamp had got Man of the Match, at times he was outstanding as well, and a guy like Johan Grobbelaar does so much for us.

“I’m just really happy to see how we have grown as a team and that the guys now get a chance to play at home, having shown we can win away if we play well enough,” White said.

To Bulls fans at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday evening, it would have seemed clear that they did not enjoy equity from the referee in the second half of their Currie Cup match against the Lions, but coach Gert Smal preferred to praise the opposition rather than blame the officials after the match.

The Bulls, having led 35-17 at halftime, ended up scraping to a 43-37 win as the Lions piled on relentless pressure in the second half. Referee Griffin Colby ended up penalising the Bulls 18 times in the match, and the Lions just eight times, and at one stage he gave 11 successive penalties to the visitors.

“I don’t want to say anything about the referee,” Smal said, “There is a system in place, comments go through Mark Lawrence and we will do that. We must remember referees are not perfect.

“The Lions started playing really well in the second half. And Juan Mostert had played well at flyhalf in the first half but then got injured, and we had to move Keagan Johannes there.

“So the Lions had their big guys running at our scrumhalf, who had to play flyhalf, and they gained a lot of momentum there. We were always under pressure to close the spaces down.

“It was sad that we could not keep our momentum in the second half, but this Lions team has been together for five weeks and they played very good rugby. They are a good team and they came hard at us. We struggled to get momentum and conceded unnecessary penalties,” Smal said.

Despite spending most of the second half inside their own 22, the Bulls produced a marvellous defensive effort, and Smal praised the tenacity and character they showed to pull through the win.

“In the first half we stuck to our plan, that was the way we wanted to play and it was outstanding. We were composed, the guys did what was expected and we did the small things well.

“In the second half there was big pressure on this team and it was good that they were able to get a good win. My message to them in the changeroom was that I am really proud of them and the way they applied themselves.

“No-one went and hid away and so we got the win by putting our bodies on the line. My captain, Lizo Gqoboka, was a real warrior and you should see what his face looks like now.

“But we would like to do the first-half game for the whole 80 minutes next time,” Smal said.

The Bulls host the Pumas in their next Currie Cup match, on May 27.

The Lions have a golden opportunity to win their first match at Loftus Versfeld in more than four years when their URC-strength team tackles the Bulls’ Currie Cup side in Pretoria on Saturday evening.

Their 49-35 win on March 3, 2018, gave the Lions a hat-trick of wins to start their Super Rugby campaign that year, and Swys de Bruin’s team would go on to contest the final against the Crusaders.

That was the last year of the De Bruin/Warren Whiteley golden era though and the Lions would now normally be the underdogs when they take on the Bulls, who have qualified for the United Rugby Championship quarterfinals, and have dominated local rugby with back-to-back Currie Cup crowns.

But the importance of securing a home quarterfinal in the URC – they will need to beat the Ospreys next Friday in Swansea to have a chance – means that squad of players has already begun preparations for that vital overseas match and Currie Cup coach Gert Smal has had to make do with the ‘second-stringers’.

The Lions, on the other hand, are out of URC contention and have chosen pretty much their best available team to try and gain their first Currie Cup win after nine straight defeats this season. Smal believes the pressure will be on the visitors in Pretoria on Saturday.

“We have 27 players unavailable due to injuries and the URC team starting their preparation, while the Lions will bring their URC team,” Smal said on Friday.

“We want to put out the best team we can and play the best we can, but I think the pressure will be on the Lions. We knew it would happen at some stage and it’s just where we are right now.

“It’s the best team we could select and the Lions have been playing much better now than at the start of the competition. They like to play and they will test us in all areas,” Smal said.

If the Bulls can cull a couple of bonus points from the game then it will keep them in touch with the Free State Cheetahs, who are expected to beat the Sharks in Bloemfontein, and still have a game in hand on Smal’s team.

While the Lions will field the exciting pairing of livewire scrumhalf Morne van den Berg and talented flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse, the Bulls have chosen a young and relatively untried halfback combination in Keagan Johannes and Juan Mostert, and there will be some uncertainty over their game management and what tempo of rugby the home side wants to play.

Teams

Bulls – James Verity-Amm, David Kriel, Stedman Gans, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Kabelo Mokoena, Juan Mostert, Keagan Johannes, Muller Uys, Reinhardt Ludwig, Jaco Labuschagne, Janko Swanepoel, Raynard Roets, Dylan Smith, Bismarck du Plessis, Lizo Gqoboka (captain). Substitutes: Sidney Tobias, Cebo Dlamini, Francois Kloppers, Ruan Delport, Stephan Smith, Bernard van der Linde, Diego Appollis, Richard Kriel.

Lions – Quan Horn, Stean Pienaar, Wandisile Simelane, Burger Odendaal (captain), Edwill van der Merwe, Jordan Hendrikse, Morne van den Berg, Francke Horn, Ruan Venter, Sibusiso Sangweni, Reinhard Nothnagel, Ruben Schoeman, Ruan Dreyer, Jaco Visagie, Sti Sithole. Substitutes: PJ Botha, Heiko Pohlmann, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cal Smid, Jarod Cairns, Andre Warner, Henko van Wyk, Tiaan Swanepoel.