A try off the bench last week and a hat-trick against French side Stade Francais on Saturday. SA under-20 flyer Cheswill Jooste is in top form at the moment and his coaching staff believe he can only get better.
The winger scored after just 20 seconds in the first move of the game against Stade, and then again twice in the second half, as the speedster showed his exceptional pace and was rewarded with a hat-trick of tries for his effort.
And now with competition strong in the Bulls squad - Jooste and fellow winger Sebastian de Klerk both have to compete with others like Stravino Jacobs, Dylan Maart, Thaakir Abrahams, Devon Williams and Sergeal Peterson - the best thing that Jooste can do is continue scoring.
His man-of-the-match performance was something to behold, especially his hat-trick try, as he took a kickoff, beat one defender and then pinned his ears back to take the final defender on the outside.
Pace has no equal on a rugby field and he showed it once again.
Afterwards while his coach Johan Ackermann pointed to the same remarks he made last week after the 50-point win over the Lions about Cameron Hanekom’s man of the match award, he believes that Jooste can simply get better.
“First of all, like I said last week, when we also highlighted Cameron, it is a team performance. A lot of players do stuff to put that player in that place, but then obviously Cheswill showed his individual ability in that kick-off try. So, I'm proud of his performance,” Ackermann said.
“I’m pleased for him also because he was sick Monday and Tuesday. He didn't train with us and got in on Thursday and got through training and we selected him and then he backed it up with a good performance.
“Now, obviously the challenge is to stay humble and to learn and to grow from that because there were opportunities, areas that we felt he could have made some good decisions.
“But, yeah, just pleased for where he is from a confidence point of view and how he's grown as a player since he started to play senior rugby.”
Jooste’s stats at the end of the game were sensational - he ended with 11 carries in the match, made a whopping 206 metres, had six clean breaks and two offloads, certainly numbers he can be proud of.
Ackermann was also full of praise for cult hero Jeandre Rudolph, who arrived at Loftus Versfeld last year with a short term Currie Cup contract and contemplating retirement and now at 32 has become a vital cog in the side and scored an incredible solo try on Saturday.
Rudolph took transition ball, chipped over the opposition winger, then toed it forward and collected an awkward bounce for a try that would have made any winger envious.
And Ackermann was all smiles afterwards when talking about a player who is fast becoming a Loftus favourite.
“Rugby is an amazing game and we can write books about players that get an opportunity. You know, I obviously have been privileged to have players like Franco Mostert and, you know, Faf de Klerk coming in when I was at the Lions. Franco did not get a contract at the Bulls, we got him to the Lions, Faf came from the Pumas and so on. Sebastian (de Klerk) has also testified to that, so sometimes things work out for you,” Ackermann said.
“Jeandre came last year on a short three-month contract trial period just to played well, we decided to take the chance and sign him longer. And, you know, he slowly but surely last year got better and played well, but this year, he has been great. A player must make use of that opportunity. We can only present it.
“And his conditioning, he's lost seven kgs, he's put in hard work, he's fit and he's playing good rugby. Hopefully it will continue, but obviously there's a lot of competition. We must manage time and nobody can play every game, to be fair.
“Not if you fight in both competitions. So today Marcel (Coetzee) was the one missing out and Hanru Liebenberg, but, you know, obviously it puts a lot of pressure on a coach if players perform like that.”
And as long as both the young and older players perform, it is a conundrum that Ackermann is delighted to have.

