Jake White of the Bulls. Picture: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
Having made the near-perfect start to their United Rugby Challenge campaign with two wins at home, the first real test for the Bulls and their aspirations of bagging the trophy this year starts this weekend, with their first match of the new season in Europe.
Jake White and his charges banked nine points, out of a possible 10, from their first two matches, wins against Ulster and Edinburgh at Loftus Versfeld, to get their trophy charge under way in the best possible way, but they will be tested, as all the South Africans teams are, in completely different conditions in the next three weeks in the northern hemisphere.
White and his team kick-start their tour of Europe with a match against the Ospreys on Saturday (8.35am) and should believe they will bank the five log points on offer.
Ospreys are not the strongest team in the competition and so far have lost to the Dragons and Munster, though the Swansea-based side shocked the Stormers in the Capetonians’ first match of their tour, 37-24, two weekends ago.
The Bulls will have taken note of that performance and will want to make sure they, too, don’t slip up in their first match on tour.
White has backed most of the players who did the business against Ulster last weekend for the match on Saturday, but has made three changes to his pack, bringing in Reinhard Ludwig at flank, Marcell Coetzee at flank and Ruan Vermaak at lock. Cameron Hanekom will play off the bench, along with the likes of Akker van der Merwe, Cobus Wiese, Stedman Gans and Aphiwe Dyantyi.
The backline is unchanged from last week, which means the exciting pairing of David Kriel and Canan Moodie get another go in midfield, while former Sharks man Boeta Chamberlain will run the show at flyhalf. Kurt-Lee Arendse and Sebastian de Klerk are the wings, while the experienced Willie le Roux will surely bring calm to the back-three, and to the team in general.
White and Co will want to make sure they put in a good performance to build momentum and confidence ahead of their other two clashes on the road, against Scarlets and Benetton, both teams they will feel they should also beat and possibly bag fullhouses of points against.
There is precious little room for error in the URC with several teams hunting a top eight spot and already White and Co are down in seventh position, even after two wins. They have, however, played a game less than many of the teams ahead of them on the log, which makes winning against weaker teams who’re not likely to be in the quarter-finals mix crucial and hugely important.
The Bulls dare not blunder on Saturday.
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