They may be polar opposites in terms of current form, but the Bulls learnt the “hard way” previously and won’t take the Lions lightly in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld (kick-off 3pm).
Jake White’s team are coming off two consecutive bonus-point victories in the Champions Cup, where they beat the Bristol Bears 31-17 in England and Bordeaux Bégles 46-40 in Pretoria to secure a home play-off fixture against Lyon in April.
In contrast, Ivan van Rooyen’s Lions have gone down 13-3 to Montpellier in France and 38-28 to the Ospreys at Ellis Park in the Challenge Cup. But now it’s all about URC points this weekend, where the Bulls can go third and the Lions fourth if they pull off a bonus-point triumph at Loftus.
“The Lions are a proud side,” Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee said on Tuesday, “and one thing you don’t do is to write off a South African side.
“We learnt that lesson the hard way the last time we played the Lions, and we can’t afford to be complacent. We will give them the necessary respect and acknowledge what they bring. Knowing them, they are very proud and will come out firing.
“Local derbies are always tough, physical and personal. European teams are one thing, but here in South Africa, we are proud people and we want to go onto the field and give our very best because of the respect we have for each other.
“I’m sure this weekend won’t be any different. What we’ve learnt in the past in this competition is that you can’t start off well, hit a form slump and then you want to try and recover from that.
“It’s important to just keep ahead. We lost the last time against them at Loftus, and we just want to have fun over the weekend.”
The Bulls scored six tries against Bordeaux, but also conceded six as the French outfit clawed their way back into the contest in the second half.
White identified the journey back from England after the Bristol game as a contributing factor to the fatigue and Coetzee, who scored twice against Bordeaux, agreed with that sentiment yesterday.
But there can be no excuses on Saturday as they have been at home since last week Monday. In addition, the return of World Cup-winning Springboks Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Marco van Staden from their five-week break will also bolster the Pretoria outfit.
“The travel did maybe kind of take its toll (against Bordeaux),” 32-year-old loose forward Coetzee said.
“You train at altitude, then you go overseas and play at sea level, and you come back and it’s sort of a re-adaptation phase …
“It’s the second week that we’re home now, and it’s great to be back. We’ve played a lot away recently, so it’s good to play a game at home.”
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