SARrugby.com

Ex Supersport

Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke signaled his intent to ensure his team doesn’t let up in their quest for a play-off place as he named a Springbok-laden team to face the Toyota Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls named all their returning Springbok players, and a starting line-up that has no fewer than 14 national players – with the only uncapped Bok being JJ Engelbrecht who was with the national squad for the England test series.

Back from injury is Bok fullback Zane Kirchner, who injured his knee in the first test against England, while Jacques Potgieter, who missed the loss against the Stormers, is back on the openside flank, with CJ Stander dropping to the bench and Arno Botha falling out of the match 22.

Potgieter’s return gives the Bulls two Potties – his housemate and namesake Dewald will form the loose trio with captain Pierre Spies in a game the Bulls know all too well they cannot afford to lose.

Coach Frans Ludeke said he was impressed with the way the Boks had returned to him from the national squad, and was sure they would be putting their best foot forward this coming weekend.

“I was really impressed with the whole mindset of the guys coming back from the national squad. The urgency was there and they want to carry on where they left off with the Boks,” Ludeke said.(Not too well put the Ludeke considering the third test performance)

“The other guys went through two weeks of training – we almost had a mini pre-season and gave more balance between training and off time in between.”

Ludeke said while permutations will come into play, he needed his team to be accurate this weekend to stop a three-game losing streak that threatens their title aspirations.

“We must be accurate this weekend if we want to be successful. We know what is needed,” Ludeke explained. “It’s always an 80-minute game against the Cheetahs, but we are looking forward to the challenge.

“They played with a lot of freedom in the last few games, obviously without the worry of trying for the playoffs. But you could see they give the ball a lot of air and try a lot of counter attacks. They always have a good setpiece and the gain line battle is always tough against them. We need to ensure we get quality possession against them to launch our game plan and be successful.”

The fact that the Cheetahs, who only had captain Adriaan Strauss at the Boks, will be well-rested is another aspect the Bulls will take into consideration, but while it may sound like a cliché in these parts, the Bulls team have the talent, and they will need to run their own race. (No Coenie spells trouble for Cheethas)

Their destiny is now in their own hands. This team needs to face up to it.

VODACOM BULLS: Zane Kirchner, Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht, Wynand Olivier, Bjorn Basson, Mornè Steyn, Francois Hougaard, Pierre Spies (c), Jacques Potgieter, Dewald Potgieter, Juandrè Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Werner Kruger, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Dean Greyling. Replacements: Willie Wepener, Frik Kirsten, Wilhelm Steenkamp, CJ Stander, Jano Vermaak, Louis Fouché, Francois Venter.

A side packed with fringe Boks . Need  couple of real Stars to lift them perhaps?

You are right Beans, much as it pains me to say so. The Bulls have plenty of Springboks, but only Hougard, and maybe Spies and Steyn are (Or were at some point) world class). J Potgieter I guess has the potential to be special, but he has not yet proved it at the top level.

I think that most of the players are really lucky to be rated as Springboks in this case - even Blue-blinkered Meyer is getting over the stage where he would select them.   He seems to have a hangup about only four of the players in the team - namely Kirchner, Steyn, Hougaard and Spies - and even in those cases he expressed some criticism during and after the series against the POMS.    That feeling is alrgely shared by the public at large.

Basically all on this forum agree that Steyn was not effective in the series and that his kicking game - both at goal and strategically -  has deteriotated during Super 15 and in the test series this year.   He will have to perform way above average in the remaining Super 15 games still to be played this year - and even if that is the case - he will have a problem when Goosen comes back from injury.   Kirchner definitely is a fringe Bok - he is not a good all-round fullback and I rate a number of players higher than him.   Hougard is to my mind the ideal physical player as scrummie - but I do think that he would be better if he was an insticntive player with Ball Sense - which at the moment seems to be missing.   Spies is strong - but not really the top 8 in SA - something virtually everyone of this forum seems to agree about.

If you have that many Springboks in the team you should beat the other provincial franchises in SA by the proverbial mile - the fact that that does not happen shows that they are best described as fringe players - who have shown less capacity than they should have.   Even if the four players mentioned earlier are retained in the Springbok squad - I think that only Juandre Kruger is a real Springbok - so out of the whole lot only 5 would qualify as top class - the rest as also - runs. 

Would like to see what hppens tomorrow.   The players mentioned knows that they are under threat and may be performing like their life depends on it - but that could also be a negative and lead to mistakes.   What they should do is to try and improve their performances thus far this year - that may help a lot.

GO CHEETERS!!!!

 It's OK Morne will give the cheetahs a figthing chance....

The Mighty Bulls to give the pussy cats a right rodgering. Morne to be back to his sublime best.