Bulls boss White is not ready to discard Bok tighthead Van der Merwe

Springbok Marcel van der Merwe, the tighthead who was replaced after 34 minutes against the Free State Cheetahs last weekend, is nowhere to be found in the Bulls team this week.

Instead, White has picked World Cup winner Trevor Nyakane to play in the No 3 jersey against the Sharks in a Currie Cup game in Durban on Saturday, with 22-year-old Mornay Smith the replacement tighthead.

The experienced Van der Merwe was brought in by White during lockdown to lead the way among the tighthead props.

Bulls director of rugby Jake White said he still had faith in the 30-year-old. “We still back Marcel and we will help him through it, he had a long-term injury and has not played much rugby,” said White.

“I’m not going to discard him, we will help him back on the horse. Maybe the Free State loosehead prop was able to get away with a bit, there’s been lots of debate about that,” White said.

Van der Merwe has struggled on more than one occasion since returning to the Bulls, in Super Rugby Unlocked and in the Currie Cup.

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“Marcel will come right and Trevor (Nyakane) almost did the same things as Marcel and we got rewarded, so I’m just thankful that referee Jaco Peyper is good enough and experienced enough to see the whole picture. There’s a misconception that we took off our tighthead because he was struggling, but it was because we wanted the loosehead to try and do the same things to Trevor.

“It’s not as if Trevor came on and waved a wand, but he showed stability and the players around him obviously get confidence from that. I haven’t worked with Trevor before but he’s been really good both on and off the field – right now he’s having one-on-ones with young Jan-Hendrik Wessels on loosehead versus tighthead,” White said.

White meanwhile has handed young 21-year-old Marnus Potgieter a debut start on the right wing.

Potgieter is 1.87 metres tall, weighs 94kg and played twice for the Blue Bulls in the 2018 SuperSport Rugby Challenge.

“Marnus has been a great junior player, he was at Affies and a member of the 4×100 metre relay team and has come through the ranks here at Loftus. He has lots of pace and he’s big and strong,” White said.

Apart from Travis Ismaiel, who had a shoulder operation, all the familiar faces are back as White also moved Kurt-Lee Arendse back to left wing, with David Kriel returning to fullback, Ivan van Zyl returns at scrumhalf, Ruan Nortje will start again in the second row and Nyakane and Jacques van Rooyen are the starting props.

Bulls: David Kriel, Marnus Potgieter, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen (capt), Arno Botha, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Trevor Nyakane, Johan Grobbelaar, Jacques van Rooyen. Bench: Schalk Erasmus, Gerhard Steenekamp, Mornay Smith, Sintu Manjezi, Nizaam Carr, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

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