Bulls now prepared for every rabbit out of the Lions’ hat

Whether the Lions decide to play a New Zealand style expansive game with offloads or take them on with their forwards, Bulls prop Pierre Schoeman said on Monday that they will be ready to counter whatever plan the South African Conference leaders come up with in their Super Rugby match at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The last round of Super Rugby fixtures before the playoffs sees the Bulls merely playing for pride, but the Lions are playing for first place in the conference as well as second on the overall log, which could mean a home semi-final.

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In their fixture in Pretoria, the Lions beat the Bulls 49-35.

“They caught us at Loftus Versfeld, we thought that they would be expansive and use offloads, but they just came through the middle with their forwards and used their set-piece. So this time we are ready for both. The set-pieces will still be vital, especially the scrums, and they have a good maul, as we saw in that first game.

“Our preparation will need to be spot-on because it’s gonna be tough and the guys will have to work really hard. It’s about the work we put in during the week in our preparation and the metrics we get gives us confidence on the day that we are match-fit for the most demanding times of the game,” Schoeman said in Pretoria on Monday.

The scrum has been a perennial problem for the Bulls in recent years, but there have been encouraging signs lately, with Schoeman saying the pack have taken ownership of the fact that it is something they have to continually work on improving.

“We’ve grown mentally as a pack and we take confidence and pride from our performance last weekend against the Jaguares and their all-Test front row, but we still have to fix certain things. On game day it’s all about the front row that is most focused on that three-second fight and we take confidence from the work we’ve put in.

“But the scrum is a difficult area because a no-name prop can one day make a fool of an international prop. The scrum is something you have to grow through the season, it’s not like a bicycle that you can just get on and ride. But I think our conditioning has also been spot-on this year,” Schoeman, who will be playing his last game for the Bulls before joining Edinburgh, said.

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