Life in the Bulls kraal had been difficult for both players and coach in the past two weeks but there seems to have been a major turnaround in fortunes after their maiden win of the season against the Sharks on Saturday.
For two weeks running nothing seemed to come together for the Bulls on or off the field. But this week everything looks to be going their way ahead of their grudge encounter against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Bulls doctor Org Strauss has given coach Frans Ludeke’s men a clean bill of health meaning that Ludeke will have the luxury of choosing the same team for the second week running.
At the same time it is unlikely that Strauss will give the green light for Springbok loose forward Arno Botha to return to action after he suffered a pectoral muscle injury two weeks ago, and this also applies to flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter who had to be withdrawn from the team last week because of a thigh injury.
Strauss will be reluctant to give the go-ahead for the duo to return to action even if they are fit. He would rather rather give them a further two weeks of rehab, considering that the Bulls have a bye after their trip to Bloem-fontein.
Ludeke will clearly be pleased by the clean bill of health considering the ferocity of Saturday’s battle against the Sharks.
But he might be tempted to tinker with his frontrow by elevating Marcel van der Merwe to the starting line-up and moving Trevor Nyakane from tighthead back to his more comfortable position of loosehead.
While Nyakane may have carried himself very well at tighthead, his strongest position still remains loosehead and he will undoubtedly form part of arguably the best frontrow in the country along with Van der Merwe and Adriaan Strauss at hooker if Ludeke so chooses.
The coach will also need to carefully manage his players, especially those expected to be in the Springbok squad for the Rugby World Cup later this year with veteran lock Victor Matfield a case in point. Matfield has played in all three of the Bulls games and his value and experience contributed greatly to Saturday’s victory. Ludeke might see the need to keep Matfield for one more game before resting him in their bye weekend and in the next home game against the Western Force.
Ludeke also feels his loose forward combination of Lappies Labuschagne, Deon Stegmann and Pierre Spies is working well together and there is no need to make changes.
“Lappies is an outstanding player and he forms a great combination with Deon and Pierre. We have two opensiders and even Pierre turned the ball over in the game. It is exactly what you want, and I think the balance is there.”
A strong contender for Saturday’s Man of the Match award would have been scrumhalf Rudy Paige who put in a strong performance that will earn him another opportunity to start. - The Star