Three games in seven days for Bulls stars: ‘It is what it is,’ says White

Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White has backed his squad to keep going during a tough run of games as they head into their United Rugby Championship match against Scarlets at Loftus on Friday night (kickoff 7:10pm).

Fifteen players from the match 23 named will be competing in their third game in seven days, after beating Munster last weekend and following that up with a win over the Sharks in the Currie Cup on Wednesday night.

Despite the heavy schedule White believes that they are just doing what is necessary after being dealt a difficult schedule.

“I didn’t do the draw or fixtures, so it is what it is. We only have 45 players in our squad, some are injured, so we are picking the best possible team we can for each game,” explained White.

“We can’t expect the guys to train every single day in a week with so many games. Recovery-wise the conditioning staff are working really hard on getting guys back onto the field.”

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White went on to talk about the players missing through injury and how they are trying to compete on both fronts domestically and in the URC.

“At the moment we have Bismarck (du Plessis) waiting for his hearing (after a red card), we have Morne Smith, Jacques du Plessis and Sintu Manjezi all out, as well as one or two others like Johan Goosen, so we just have to do what we can do,” said White.

“These fixtures are what we have been given, we have to try and stay alive in a competition and that’s what we are busy doing. We are picking the best possible team from week to week.

“We have rotated a couple of the players, there are about 10 changes to the starting line-up and hopefully we will get a return. I thought we played quite well last night at times (in the Currie Cup) and I think our rugby is improving.”

ALSO READ: Four things we learned from midweek Currie Cup action

Other URC matches on the weekend see the Lions up against Munster at Ellis Park on Saturday (kickoff 2pm), the Sharks take on Zebre at Kings Park on Saturday (kickoff 6:30pm) and the Stormers play Cardiff at the Cape Town Stadium on Sunday (kickoff 2pm).

Bulls team: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Zak Burger, Elrigh Louw, Cyle Brink, Marcell Coetzee (c), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Jacques van Rooyen, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench: Joe van Zyl, Simphiwe Matanzima, Robert Hunt, Reinhardt Ludwig, Arno Botha, Keagan Johannes, Morne Steyn, Lionel Mapoe