Bulls captain Pierre Spies didn’t mince his words when he made known that his team have their eyes firmly set on the Super Rugby trophy.
However, before adding a fourth title to their impressive haul of three trophies which they won over a period of four year, they will have to negotiate their way through some tough encounters in the next month starting with tomorrow’s game against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland.
Spies is making a return to the starting team after coming off the bench in the Bulls last match against the Lions and is one of three changes that Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has made to his team.
With Spies returning at number eight, Springbok Arno Botha has been moved to flank in place of Jacques du Plessis who drops to the bench while scrumhalf Rudy Paige returns to the starting line-up after a three-week injury lay-off and in place of the injured Piet van Zyl.
With renewed energy in leading his team through action, Spies spoke frankly of his team’s belief that they can secure themselves a home semi-final which will be key to them finally getting their hands on that trophy which they last won five years ago.
“We did speak about the bigger picture and playing for the home semi-final. But before we get there we will need to take it week by week and keep our target at the back of our minds,” Spies said from the team hotel in the centre of Auckland.
In order for the Bulls to make significant strides on this four-match tour of New Zealand and Australia, they will sample a watershed chapter in their not so glittering history abroad by taking lessons out of their victory against the Blues in Auckland two years ago.
While most of the Bulls players on that fateful day in 2013 are no longer part of the team, it is up to the remaining ones to relive some of the moments that brought the Bulls success on that day.
Spies believes that the team must feed off that memory and what they have done well this season in placing themselves in a favourable position to make the play-offs.
“A lot of the guys who were at Eden Park that day will take a lot of confidence from that win and the rest of the team must feed off it. That win was important because it gave us the belief that we can win anywhere in the world. We must do it again on Friday,” Spies said.
Spies, though, is under no illusion as to the enormity of the task of winning away from home and in the land of your arch rivals but believes their ability to overcome New Zealand opposition this season and their defence will pull them through.
“The way they (the Blues) attack with ball in hand makes them a very dangerous side. We have come a long way with our defence, we believe in our system, we defend for each other and we will need to take that into the game with us.”
If the Bulls are to continue on the same path which has seen them lose only two out of their last eight matches, coupled with the sentiment of having won the last time they played at Eden Park, then Spies’ words of another title could become a reality and not just a dream. - The Star