Cape Town - Despite the slippery conditions expected in Parma, Bulls coach Jake White believes that fleet-footed fullback Kurt-Lee Arendse can still make a major impact in tonight’s United Rugby Championship clash against Zebre.
The former Blitzboks star was reinstated at No 15 yesterday after missing the Sharks match two weeks ago due to a shoulder injury, with David Kriel sitting out of the trip to Italy.
Arendse hasn’t quite fired for the Bulls at the back as he has at left wing previously, and injuries and other issues have hampered his progress during the United Rugby Championship.
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White, though, is confident that the 25-year-old former University of the Western Cape speedster can handle the tricky conditions tonight.
“It’s going to rain. The one thing Zebre do a lot is that they kick quite long, into your half, which allows a guy like Kurt-Lee to get the ball with lots of space. And hopefully – even if it is raining – he’s still got good footwork and is still dangerous on the counter-attack,” White said.
“So, if they play like that – hopefully it doesn’t rain – we can have the best of him. But if it does rain, I still think he can offer us a lot ... the fact that he’s very good in broken play. It will be nice to see his ability to actually counter-attack from the back.”
Arendse will have a key ally in scrumhalf Embrose Papier, who is also back at No 9 after playing off the bench in the 29-22 loss to the Sharks.
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White was delighted with the impact Papier made in the second half at Loftus, and wants him and reserve scrumhalf Keagan Johannes to take on the Zebre defence.
“Embrose played quite well when he came off the bench the last time. The way that he combined with Elrigh (Louw), especially off the back of the scrum, was something that we’ve been looking to get right for a long time,” White said.
“It’s not a case of anything’s happened with Zak (Burger). Zak has played a lot of rugby, and we’ve seen him. We’d like to see Embrose play now.
“A guy on the bench, Keagan Johannes, is someone we rate quite highly. And the two of them are roommates this week, so it’s quite nice to see the little guy learning from Embrose. They know each other quite well, and it’s nice for them to talk to each other about rugby in their room.”
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Zebre have lost all seven United Rugby Championship matches this season, and are also missing seven players who are part of the Italy Six Nations squad, and several others who are injured.
But following the Rainbow Cup final defeat to Benetton last year, the Bulls are not thinking that it will be an easy evening at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.
“I’m expecting a tough battle, as we all know how passionate the Italians are. They back their defence, and they kick long,” White said.
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse 14 Cornal Hendricks 13 Lionel Mapoe 12 Harold Vorster 11 Madosh Tambwe 10 Chris Smith 9 Embrose Papier 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Arno Botha 6 Marcell Coetzee 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Jacques van Rooyen 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenekamp
Bench: 16 Bismarck du Plessis 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Robert Hunt 19 Janko Swanepoel 20 WJ Steenkamp 21 Keagan Johannes 22 Juan Mostert 23 Canan Moodie
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