Johannesburg – On the main lift doors deep in the bowels of Loftus Versfeld’s grandstand is a life-size picture of Bulls captain Pierre Spies with the words “Raise your game” next to him.
Those words could not have rung truer after the Bulls team announcement on Wednesday as Spies and Bulls coach Frans Ludeke disappeared into the lift after facing the media during the weekly team announcement.
There was an acknowledgement from Spies that his injury-ravaged team would certainly need to raise their game if they were to get their Super Rugby campaign back on track and stay in the race for the lucrative play-off spots.
Despite being disrupted by a plethora of injuries and on the back of three consecutive defeats, Spies remained defiant on Wednesday that his team are ready to face the high-flying Cheetahs at Loftus on Saturday, which could end the Bloemfontein side’s five-match winning streak.
“It is great to be back at home. It has been a tough few weeks on tour. We’ve had a week’s rest and we’re looking forward to the Cheetahs game,” said Spies. “It is important for us to get our campaign back on track and we are playing against a very competitive Cheetahs team who’ve played well in the past three weeks. Every weekend is a new one. We want to focus on the things we want to do.
“We also take into consideration what the Cheetahs are good at and their good momentum.
“They have made their game better in certain aspects, too, so for us we need a good clinical performance for 80 minutes,” Spies said yesterday.
Even with a crocked squad and doubts on whether the Bulls can bounce back to their winning ways, they announced a team that saw the return of two Springboks in wing Akona Ndungane and lock Flip van der Merwe.
Versatile prop Frik Kirsten will replace Werner Kruger in the only other change to the Bulls pack.
Never a side to make excuses for their inefficiency in performance, Spies believes that the presence of Ndungane in the backline will bring about a lot of calmness after Zane Kirchner was ruled out for over a month and will be replaced by Jurgen Visser at fullback while the Bulls retained Jan Serfontein and JJ Engelbrecht at centre.
Bulls: Jürgen Visser, Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht, Jan Serfontein, Lionel Mapoe, Morné Steyn, Jano Vermaak, Pierre Spies (captain), Dewald Potgieter, Deon Stegmann, Juandré Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Frik Kirsten, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Morné Mellet. Replacements: Callie Visagie, Werner Kruger, Paul Willemse, Arno Botha, Rudy Paige, Louis Fouché, Ulrich Beyers. – The Star