Cape Town - The gloves are off, and it’s time for a royal rumble …
Now, it’s not a heavyweight boxing clash we’re talking about, but tonight’s United Rugby Championship showdown between the Bulls and Sharks at Loftus Versfeld (5.05pm kick-off) will resemble two fighters going toe to toe.
While the Bulls have got back into the winner’s circle with consecutive victories over the Lions over the past fortnight, they haven’t been able to find the fluidity that was a trademark of their back to back Currie Cup title triumphs last year.
On attack, there have been glimpses of the smooth rhythm seen before from Jake White’s side, but too many handling errors and wrong options have blighted their ball-in-hand approach.
The line-outs have probably been the one consistently good area, but there has been a lack of precision in the scrums, driving mauls and the breakdown work.
White has now seen enough, and with conditions set to be perfect in Pretoria today, with a high of 30 degrees forecast, now is the time for the Bulls to put their best foot forward.
“The only thing I’d like to see is how we translate what we’ve been doing on the training field into the game. We’ve trained incredibly well over the last three weeks,” the former Springbok coach said yesterday after making three changes to the starting line-up.
“I’d like to see us translate that into a match-day fixture. I thought there were times in the game that we probably played quite well in both those (Lions) games, and against the Stormers at the back-end.
“We just don’t want situations where either the weather or the tempo of the game … I’m hoping that tomorrow, the referee (AJ Jacobs) allows us to play a bit more quicker. I think the last couple of weeks, we’ve been a bit slow.
“I know with the Sharks coming from Durban, it’s altitude here and I’m hoping that there is an understanding that we want to play quickly. We want to put them under pressure, fatigue them as much as we can. It’s very difficult to come up to altitude and play a high-tempo game.”
With Kurt-lee Arendse battling with a “bang to the shoulder”, David Kriel will look to show White that he should be the first choice full-back once more, while Cornal Hendricks has been brought in at right wing, where he will have his hands full in marking Springbok sensation Makazole Mapimpi.
Gerhard Steenekamp also returns at loosehead prop, with Simphiwe Matanzima shifting to the bench.
White sounded excited by the possibilities that Hendricks provides on attack.
“Cornal having played centre now is a great option for us as we can use him in different positions from different set plays. So, he doesn’t necessarily always have to be on the right wing. We can probably run him in a few plays at 12 as well,” White said.
“I am expecting them to come and play for what they’re worth, because it is a final – we can’t afford to lose at home. We lost to the Stormers here, and we can’t afford to lose another derby game.”
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