Duane holds key to Bulls’ chances of taking next step

There are many who would argue with some validity that the Vodacom Super Rugby Unlocked title annexed by the Bulls is the equivalent of the old conference trophy no-one really ever made any fuss of, but it has still been 10 years since the Pretoria franchise won any kind of silverware.

So, the achievement they celebrated on a wet afternoon with no fans present to join in and enjoy the fireworks and the confetti is meaningful to them. It represents progress and casting the mind back to earlier in the year will give a mental picture of a team that was in a very different space to the one that Jake White has moulded into a formidable, winning unit.

The former Springbok World Cup-winning coach has contracted cleverly, with the forward stocks that were starting to run thin being significantly replenished. The depth of talent and physical strength available upfront has always been the Bulls’ strength, and when they have that aspect together, then there are invariably decent halfbacks available to drive the Bulls’ game.

This has been the case over the past few weeks. Morne Steyn wasn’t there in the rather underwhelming finish to the Unlocked part of the season against the Pumas at the weekend because he was quarantined after contact with Covid, but he and Ivan van Zyl have done everything that White would have asked of them in terms of ensuring that the opposition are suffocated and feel under constant pressure.

WHITE BUILDING FOR BIGGER THINGS

If there is a potential area of weakness, it is the midfield, so it was not surprising to learn at the weekend that the Bulls might be looking to contract Bok and multiple World Cup winner Frans Steyn going forward.

The Bulls’ business model is one that works, something that is quite rare among South African franchises, so you can bet they will find a way to contract more than just the Free State veteran as White builds towards the bigger things to come.

Those “bigger things”, if you pressed him, would probably be the Bulls’ participation in the Pro16 once that is confirmed and gets going, but the Carling Currie Cup, which starts this coming weekend, will be an important next step and a more important steppingstone, if the Bulls do win it, to confirmation of their full rehabilitation.

All due respect to the Unlocked competition and it’s sponsors, but there were several reasons why it struggled to capture the imagination - one of them being that a single round league competition that is inevitably going to be even further curtailed because of Covid doesn’t really give you a good idea of where all the teams stand.

That is particularly so when you consider the imbalance that was created by the fixture list, with some players, like the Bulls, playing more games at home than away (two thirds actually), while it was the converse for others.

The Currie Cup, contested over a double round with the round of Unlocked matches counting towards log position, will be a fairer gauge, with the caveat of course that in these extraordinary times there is a chance that cancellations because of Covid could potentially play as big a part in determining where the playoffs will be played as on-field form.

TOUGHER SECOND ROUND

Given what was already noted about the Bulls having played more of the first half of the season at home than away, it will be tougher for them in the second round. They now play just two more games at home - against the Emirates Lions and the Toyota Cheetahs - with the rest away. Their trips to Newlands, which comes up this weekend, and to Durban will be particularly significant.

The Bulls’ away form in Unlocked was nowhere near as convincing as their home form. While they smashed the Sharks and Stormers at Loftus, they lost to the Cheetahs in their first trip away from Pretoria and had to come from behind to beat the Lions in Johannesburg.

What was significant though, in that second-mentioned game, was the role that their skipper Duane Vermeulen played in turning around a contest that was going against the Bulls at the halfway point. It was Vermeulen, who just hates to lose, who got the bit between his teeth in that game and almost single-handedly turned the tide in his team’s favour as he led from the front after halftime.

He will need to do that on Saturday in Cape Town at a venue that Vermeulen will know well after playing for the Stormers for so many years but which hasn’t been kind to the Bulls in recent years.

Those who watched the M-Net docu-series, Chasing the Sun, will be well aware of just how valuable Vermeulen was to the Boks in their World Cup win last year and his influence, both in lifting his teammates and in scaring the opposition, can never be underestimated.

With Vermeulen’s steely resolve heading them and keeping their noses pointed in the right direction, the Bulls have an excellent chance of continuing their upward momentum by winning a trophy that no-one in this country needs to be educated about.

In fact, you might go as far as to suggest that their chances hinge on Vermeulen staying fit and motivated. They need his presence, they need his influence. Without him, they are a good team, but there is nothing special about them.

CHEETAHS STILL IN THE FIGHT

With Covid having lent the Bulls a helping hand already by determining that neither the Sharks or Stormers were in a position to pick up full points in the final weekend of Unlocked, it was probably a good thing that they didn’t manage to get a bonus point against the Pumas.

It means the Sharks and Stormers are just four points adrift, meaning one win, and they both have everything to play for as they go out in quest of the top spot on the log that would ensure a home final, should they get past the semifinal stage, on 23 January.

The Bulls started off the Pumas game as if they had a plane to catch, but in the second half they turned in a lacklustre performance that cost them a point on the log that could just come back and bite them later in the competition.

It all hinges on this weekend’s game against the Stormers though - if they win in Cape Town, they will have significant space between them and their main rivals. And Vermeulen is going to be a huge factor.

The Cheetahs’ good win over the Tafel Lager Griquas in another wet-weather game ensured that the other major challengers to the Bulls’ right to be Currie Cup favourites, and the reigning domestic champions, stay in the fight after enduring some rotten luck in the Unlocked phase of the season.

WEEKEND RESULTS

Vodacom Bulls 21 Phakisa Pumas 5

Toyota Cheetahs 28 Tafel Lager Griquas 9

Cell C Sharks v DHL Stormes cancelled due to Covid

CARLING LAGER CURRIE CUP FIXTURES

Cell C Sharks v Phakisa Pumas (Durban, Friday 19.00)

Tafel Lager Griquas v Emirates Lions (Kimberley, Saturday 16.30)

DHL Western Province v Vodacom Bulls (Cape Town, Saturday 19.00)