Bulls v Lions: Second Jukskei derby this season could be even bigger than the first

Players and coaches on both sides of the field have talked up the significance of their much-anticipated United Rugby Championship (URC) local derby when the Bulls host the Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon (2pm).

They are relishing forward and backline battles as they urgently look for points with just a handful of matches left in the tournament before the play-offs.

The Bulls won the first Jukskei derby in Johannesburg last month, scoring four tries to come away from Ellis Park with a bonus-point 35-22 win, however, they are fresh from a tough 29-19 defeat to the Sharks at home last weekend.

The Lions, meanwhile, seem to have recovered since that home loss to the Bulls. They put in a dominant first-half performance and then defended well in the second half to claim a 30-23 win over the Stormers at Ellis Park last weekend.

Derby’s (scrum)ptious forward pack battle

 Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said he knew the second Jukskei derby would be a tough, physical contest.

“It’s a big month for us. We know we need to perform more consistently against the South African teams. It’s been one of our main goals,” he said.

For his part, Bulls boss Jake White said derbies are different from other URC fixtures.

“Every derby game goes up another level. They bring out the best,” he said, adding South African teams “do not hold anything back” against each other and this is seen in the massive crowds the games draw.

Bulls hooker Johan Grobbelaar spoke on the challenge the fearless Lions backline poses while prop Alulutho Tshakweni drew attention to the massive scrum battle that awaited them in anticipated wet weather where knock-ons were inevitable.

“As we saw from some of the tries the Lions scored [against the Stormers], they’ve got amazing pace in the outfield,” Grobbelaar said.

“We’re going to have to be a solid defence line, get our width and not give them soft shoulders.”

Tshakweni said the Lions forward pack driven by prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye has been a formidable force in the scrums but the Bulls would match them.

“We can definitely stop them. You’ve seen the forward pack that we have, we’ve been doing very well these past couple of weeks. We want to keep it going and keep building on it.

“We know they are a very good pack but we have a very good pack as well. It’s going to be a good battle.”

However, White said the Bulls could not only rely on their forwards to beat down their opposition.

Looking at the URC log

The Bulls are third on the URC log, only one point ahead of the Sharks, but they are third in the South African shield.

The Lions are 12^th on the overall log but have two games in hand and are only four points away from eighth-placed Scarlets. The Lions however lie at the bottom of the pile in the conference with only one win from three matches.