Bulls silence, and 2024 memories means facing the Saints is a strange fixture

With no word coming from Loftus Versfeld on what the touring squad to Northampton Saints will look like, the Vodacom Bulls will want to stave off a repeat of two years ago when they faced the Premiership’s top side at the time with a B squad.

But given their circumstances, and the fact that it is a must-win game if they are to try and make the playoffs of the Investec Champions Cup, the silence is deafening at the moment and the pressure is building for the side to find their identity under coach Johan Ackermann.

It is perhaps a bit unfair on Ackermann given he hasn’t had much time with the Bulls, but Northampton is a tough ask for a side that were so soundly beaten by defending champions Bordeaux-Begles on the weekend.

The Bulls have been silent on the make-up of their touring squad, but given their history in the 2024 Champions Cup - where they faced some harsh criticism for excluding a number of their Boks from the touring squad and sending a virtual B side for the playoff game, prioritising a United Rugby Championship game as more important, their squad is likely to be scrutinised again.

MIX AND MATCH SQUAD?

The whispers from around the camp are that it will be a mix and match squad, but that was before they were beaten by Bordeaux. And with the Bulls doing only one media engagement - their contractually mandated team announcement last Friday - in the last 12 days - it is difficult to gauge their thinking.

Ackermann was clearly not a happy man on Saturday night after the loss to Bordeaux, where the Bulls failed to score a point in the second half and let in seven tries in the game - taking their tries conceded total to 34 and will know it is understandable the concern from fans at the team form thus far.

Northampton survived an ambush at Pau in France last weekend to record a win and will be pressing at home to follow that up to try and get a better seeding when the playoffs roll around in a few months’ time.

The Bulls already have a reputation in England stemming from that 2024 clash, and a weakened side may not be taken lightly, even though there is a lot of good reasoning for playing the extended members of the squad.

Several of their top line Springboks were on tour for three weeks before joining up with the Bok squad for five weeks and to be away from home for eight weeks, back in Pretoria for a week and then to cross hemispheres again a week later may not be the best thing for the Bulls squad, but there will be pressure to get a strong team onto the park.

INJURED STARS TO RETURN?

We may see the return of Cameron Hanekom, who had previously said he was targeting the Northampton game as a return while Elrigh Louw has had two spells off the bench in losing outings and will want to start a game as well.

Kurt-Lee Arendse returned home from the Bok camp with concussion and it has been more than three weeks now, so he should also be lined up for a return.

But other than that, it is unlikely that too many Boks will be in the side from the current national squad, and the Bulls will rely more on players such as Marcell Coetzee, Reinhardt Ludwig, JF van Heerden and Akker van der Merwe up front.

The silence also means no clarity on injuries to Marco van Staden and Cobus Wiese, while the Bulls did lose Jan Serfontein to an MCL Ligament tear last week that will see him out for eight weeks in total.

If last week is any indication, the team will only give an update on Friday when they make their announcement of the match day squad to face the Saints.

That may limit the criticism if it is a weakened squad, but considering the EPCR had a “probe” into the Bulls after the 2024 game, it will hardly win them any sympathy.

All this in a game that is vitally important if they want to have any chance of going further in Europe and not repeating last season’s exit into the EPCR Challenge Cup.