Another blow for the Bulls

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA - MAY 28: Frans Ludeke (Coach) during the Vodacom Bulls training session and press conference at Loftus Versveld on May 28, 2014 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA - MAY 28: Frans Ludeke (Coach) during the Vodacom Bulls training session and press conference at Loftus Versveld on May 28, 2014 in Pretoria, South Africa. (Photo by Lee Warren/Gallo Images)

Published Feb 17, 2015

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Bulls coach Frans Ludeke could not have envisaged a worse start to this year’s Super Rugby competition.

After what he had described as a “good” pre-season, Ludeke watched in agony as his team suffered a loss in their first outing of the competition against bitter rivals the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

While there were some encouraging signs and glimpses of the kind of rugby they are capable of playing, there were some glaring weaknesses too that will need urgent attention or else the Bulls will suffer another season best forgotten.

Their inability to effectively employ and execute their game-plan would have been a talking point at yesterday morning’s review session. But even more importantly their lack of firepower in the scrums would have been discussed.

The Bulls’ frailty in the scrums is nothing new and was their Achilles heel both in an average 2014 Super Rugby campaign and another failed Currie Cup season.

Even though the Bulls have had to pay attention to other areas of their game in the past few seasons, it has become increasingly evident that the scrums need a lot more focus.

Not even the off-season acquisitions of Springbok prop Trevor Nyakane and hooker Adriaan Strauss were able to rescue the Bulls on Saturday against the Stormers whose frontrow consisted of two Bulls rejects in prop Vincent Koch and hooker Bongi Mbonambi. And worst of all the visitors had no Springboks in their frontrow.

While the Bulls did manage to find some stability in the latter stages of the game with Nyakane moving from loosehead to tighthead and Morné Mellett coming on at loosehead, the Bulls scrum still remains unstable and a glaring weakness in their game.

And efforts to try and fix their scrum were dealt a serious blow yesterday with news that tighthead prop Werner Kruger has been ruled out for at least six weeks with an ankle injury.

Kruger had started against the Stormers but hobbled off during the first half and was replaced by Mellett while the Bulls will also be without Springbok loose forward Arno Botha who suffered a pectoral injury and will be sidelined for two to three weeks.

With Kruger out the Bulls face a crisis at tighthead prop at least for the next two weeks as Nyakane, Dayan van der Westhuizen and Neethling Fouché are the only three recognised tightheads they have, with the latter two not having any experience at senior rugby.

Springbok loosehead prop Dean Greyling is expected to be back at training but that still won’t solve the problem as Marcel van der Merwe is only expected to return from injury in two weeks’ time.

For the time being Ludeke will have to use Nyakane as a tighthead for the games against the Hurricanes on Friday and the Sharks next week but there will need to be trust and backing for Van der Westhuizen and Fouché if the Bulls are to grow their depth at prop.

“When Werner left the field we had to absorb that and I think Trevor really stepped up there. The longer he played the more he was comfortable and we actually ended on top in the scrums,” said Ludeke.

The Bulls could also be facing a crisis at centre with news yesterday that William Small-Smith will be out for two weeks with an ankle injury while Burger Odendaal will be sidelined for four to six weeks with a knee injury.

There was some good news though with wings Akona Ndungane and Travis Ismaiel fit and ready for selection this week.

Captain Victor Matfield hopes that the loss against the Stormers will be a timely wake- up call for his troops with a short turnaround this week ahead of their clash against the Hurricanes.

“It is four points that’s gone, and we are sad it happened at Loftus because we are very proud here and have a very good record. Everything went so well in the pre-season, we really worked hard and the warm-up games went well too. Hopefully everyone will see now that the only thing that counts is the 80 minutes on the field. Yes you have to work hard during the week but when you get on the park that’s the only thing that counts. You have to win the big moments and put the opposition under pressure; it is not just going to happen.” - The Star

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