Bulls outside centre Stedman Gans is determined to focus on his game this term. Picture: Chris Fairweather/Gallo Images
After a stellar start to the new season, Bulls midfielder Stedman Gans has welcomed the competition of Springbok Canan Moodie for the No 13 jersey.
Gans made the No 13 jersey his own at the start of the United Rugby Championship campaign, being an integral component of Jake White’s team. However, with the Springboks returning to the side after the World Cup, Gans will now have to fight for the jersey with Moodie back in the mix.
Moodie, who’s still in the formative stages of his career, has not turned out at 13 for the Bulls before but now will be an option after shining in the position at Test level with the Springboks.
The emergence of Moodie at 13 is not giving Gans any sleepless nights as he won’t change his approach.
“My focus has always been on my own performance,” said Gans when quizzed about the prospective competition with Moodie for a place in the team.
“I don’t necessarily look at who’s in the squad, who’s competing for the same positions. I just look at doing my best when I get an opportunity in training and the game.
“If that’s good enough, the coaches will tell you and select you, and if it’s not, they’ll tell you what to work on. That’s been my focus ever since I started playing,” he said.
The former Blitzbok star has formed a strong partnership with David Kriel in the middle of the backline. Gans said the reason behind their sprightly combination is a strong preseason and their games complementing each other.
“The coaching staff managed to try different combinations in the preseason. David and I trained a lot, and we also have a similar game, and we like to run across the park a lot. So, I think we complement each other in that way,” Gans said.
The Bulls go into round six of the URC on the back of a defeat against Edinburgh and will be hoping to return to winning ways at home against Connacht this weekend.
Connacht, who are in fourth place on the URC points table, managed to defeat the Sharks 13-12 last weekend and will be confident of getting a second win on tour.
Gans has warned that if they don’t match the physicality of Connacht, they might end up getting a disappointing result.
“We are expecting them to come out and playing a physical game; we are expecting them to bring physicality to Loftus. We need to front up and match that,” Gans said.
“They had a good win against the Sharks; they will want to back that up with another good performance.
“We know that we have to be up and ready for this game otherwise we’ll get a disappointing result at Loftus,” he said.
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