Ken Borland

Bulls coach Jake White was not expecting elusive wing Rosko Specman to be playing for the Stormers against his team in their Rainbow Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night, but he does know those thickset brutes in the visiting pack are going to be trying to wrestle his side into submission.

Specman, on loan from the Free State Cheetahs, was rushed straight into the Stormers starting line-up on Thursday, with Sergeal Petersen being relegated to the bench. Specman was one of the players released from the Bulls by White last year and there have been suggestions of some bad blood between the two.

But when White was asked on Thursday about Specman coming back to Loftus Versfeld to play against his former team, White said he was delighted for the Springbok Sevens star. Before adding a trademark bit of psychological warfare against the Stormers.

“It’s fantastic for Rosko, although I don’t know if he’ll play. I’ll be very pleased for him if he does and he’s also been in the Springbok alignment camps. But there are probably five other wings who have been in Cape Town the whole year, so it’s difficult for them to just parachute Rosko in ahead of everyone else, especially a guy like Edwill van der Merwe, who scored the winning try in their last match.

“So I don’t expect anything different from the Stormers, they have a formula that works for them and the last time they were here, they had six forwards on the bench. That’s working for them and they use their scrum and maul to attack you a lot. It’s going to be a massive, must-win game for us. Fortunately we have three Springboks [Marcell Coetzee, Ivan van Zyl & Gio Aplon] back for a huge game against the team that has the most Springboks in their pack,” White said.

While Coetzee playing with Springbok legend Duane Vermeulen and up-and-coming star Elrigh Louw, and Marco van Staden on the bench, in a loose trio White described as probably being the best in global club rugby is going to engender much excitement, the return of utility back Gio Aplon, to cross swords with his old team, and scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl is most welcome.

With less than a month to run on Van Zyl’s contract before he joins Saracens, many coaches would have ploughed on with Zak Burger and Keegan Johannes at halfback now that Embrose Papier is injured. But not White.

“It sums up everything about our culture. If Ivan had wanted to hide or protect himself before going to Saracens, I would have been disappointed. But it says a lot for him that he wants to be part of the team, he wants to finish here on a high and complete his contract properly. That’s a sign that things are where they should be.

“The reality is I do have other scrumhalves, but I’ve gone for the best one to get the job done in this match, and Embrose is injured and I don’t think he’ll be able to play for a couple of weeks. Ivan is one of the guys showing he has wonderful character, and that’s why we have been successful,” White said.

Springbok resting protocols will allow numerous Sharks fringe players to cash in on some lengthy playing opportunity when a much-changed team travels to Johannesburg to take on the Lions in their Rainbow Cup match on Saturday.

Coach Sean Everitt on Thursday announced a team with 10 changes to the starting line-up that went down to the Stormers a fortnight ago. That includes a new front row, the return of Hyron Andrews at lock, two new loose forwards and four changes to the backline, one of which is the return of Springbok wing Makazole Mapimpi.

With the Currie Cup confirmed to start on June 18 and the Rainbow Cup final being played the next day, as well as the Sharks set to lose a large number of players to the Springbok squad, the jostling for starting spots in the team is increasing.

“The selection is very much about supporting the Springboks’ resting protocols, but it’s a good opportunity for other guys who we may be working with for a lengthy period, maybe until December. We do have the players to cover and most of them have been in the 23-man squad anyway, this is not a young and inexperienced team. It’s just starting is a different role for them.

“The matchday squad is not that different to the one against the Stormers [15/23] and it’s amazing the difference it makes to morale when everyone knows they’re going to get a shot. There has been good energy, a lot of excitement and attention in training this week. We know we have great depth, we are a vastly improved squad and the more the exposure the better the players will be for it,” Everitt said on Thursday.

Apart from resting protocols, Covid is also a massive factor in rugby today and Everitt’s plans of giving his first-choice front row of Fez Mbatha, Ox Nche and Thomas du Toit a complete rest this week were dashed when his third-choice trio of Khwezi Mona, Michael Kumbirai and Dan Jooste were all in contact with someone in the Toyota Invitation XV who tested positive after their friendly match against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein at the weekend.

It means Mbatha, Nche and Du Toit will have to sit on the bench on Saturday, and against a rock-solid Lions scrum, one would not bet against them having to come on and play a key role if the Sharks are to maintain their challenge for the Rainbow Cup title.

Sharks team: Anthony Volmink, Yaw Penxe, Werner Kok, Marius Louw, Makazole Mapimpi, Manie Libbok, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Henco Venter (c), James Venter, Hyron Andrews, JJ van der Mescht, Wiehahn Herbst, Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench – Fez Mbatha, Ox Nche, Thomas du Toit, Ruben van Heerden, Thembelani Bholi, Grant Williams, Boeta Chamberlain, Jeremy Ward.

Duane Vermeulen must be used to being the object of huge admiration from rugby fans by now, so it was nice on Thursday to hear the talismanic Springbok eighthman almost gush over the prospect of teaming up with Marcell Coetzee for the first time in the Bulls’ loose trio when they take on the Stormers in their massive Rainbow Cup clash at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Coetzee, who earned himself legendary status at Ulster when he moved there from the Sharks in 2016, will make his debut for the Bulls on Friday night in a highly-anticipated North/South derby that could well decide who wins the South African leg of the Rainbow Cup.

Vermeulen and Coetzee will be hoping to reproduce their epic performance for the Springboks back in 2014 when they beat the All Blacks 27-25 at Ellis Park to end a five-game losing streak against their great rivals. Vermeulen was immense despite playing with cracked ribs and won the man of the match award.

“Marcell has good character, he has great energy on the field and I’m really looking forward to playing with him again. He’s a good ball-carrier, he has pace to the ball. He’s actually just a really well-rounded player – he tackles and carries the ball well, and can play to the ball.

“And it’s going to be nice to have young Elrigh Louw playing with us, he can learn a lot from Marcell now too. Marcell is really experienced and he can back me up on decision-making as well,” Vermeulen said on Thursday.

Vermeulen is no stranger to playing with pain to this day, and Bulls coach Jake White said it was the courage of his captain that eggs his team-mates on to greater heights.

“Every week Duane is in the doctor’s room getting things drained out of his knee. He could hold back every week, he could say ‘Coach, I need a break’. But he always fronts up, it’s why he has achieved what he has and with that sort of leader I know I’ll have no problem with any other players. I don’t feel like anyone is not going to put their body on the line and give their absolute best,” White said.

The coach was similarly excited about being able to pick Coetzee, saying he can play in each of the loose-forward positions, but adding the Bulls’ combination of Vermeulen, Louw and Coetzee, with Marco van Staden on the bench, is probably the best in global club rugby.

White also praised his conditioning staff for ensuring Coetzee and fellow Springboks Ivan van Zyl and Gio Aplon have all been able to return to action in a crucial match in which the Bulls will need all the quality they can get against a powerful Stormers team that is gaining momentum.

Bulls team: David Kriel, Madosh Tambwe, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen (C), Elrigh Louw, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Schalk Erasmus, Jacques van Rooyen, Trevor Nyakane, Janko Swanepoel, Marco van Staden, Zak Burger, Chris Smith, Gio Aplon.

Not giving away possession or penalties is what the Sharks have identified as the key things they need to rectify as they go into their Rainbow Cup match against the Lions on Saturday on the back of successive defeats to the Bulls and Stormers, according to lock Reniel Hugo.

The setbacks have left the Sharks four points adrift of the log-leading Bulls and sitting in third place below the Stormers on points difference. If the Lions win at Ellis Park on Saturday then they could actually leapfrog the KwaZulu-Natalians.

“It’s not nice having two losses behind our names but we have the opportunity to rectify our mistakes this weekend. We are conceding a lot of penalties and that just allows the opposition to kick out and set the rolling maul, which then takes a lot of energy to defend. So we have been working very hard on our discipline so we don’t concede penalties and also on keeping the ball.

“Against the Bulls we had to defend more than a dozen rolling mauls and sometimes your legs just give in. But sometimes it’s just one guy coming in at the wrong place and that breaks the system. A few guys have made mistakes and I was one of them. As an older guy, hopefully I can bring a bit more experience and try and get the team to gel together better,” Hugo said on Tuesday.

The Sharks have won their last four matches in Johannesburg, dating back to their 26-19 Super Rugby defeat in their opening game of 2018, and Hugo said their focus is squarely on becoming the first South African team to contest the Rainbow Cup final.

“The Lions lost their first three games, but they weren’t big losses and they had lots of opportunities to win. It just shows that all four teams in this competition are very good and the quality of rugby is such that there are no easy games. So it’s going to be very important for us to be clinical, we must stop them, get turnovers and create opportunities for ourselves.

“But the Lions showed how tough this competition is when they beat the Bulls to open the Rainbow Cup up massively. If we can now win both these last games then we’ll be in with a shout of playing in that final in Italy,” Hugo said.