The Vodacom Bulls return to Loftus Versfeld this morning with mixed emotions, a headache at 12 and a host of Springboks chomping at the bit to get into action.
Their 26-22 loss against Munster was a scoreline that flattered them on Saturday as they returned from their opening two-match tour for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship with six points in the bag, following their big win over Zebre in the opening round.
But the Munster game exposed some big question marks about the side early on in the season. Without their Boks, the scrum looks like it won’t scare many other sides and needs a lot of work, while game management is a massive concern going into the rest of the season.
The inability of the Bulls to exit their 22-metre area, especially in the second half, is something that will get furious scrutiny this week from both coaches and players as this weekend’s big derby against the Lions is not a game they want to lose.
The Bulls will be able to choose their Springboks, all of whom returned from Australia last week, with coach Johan Ackermann opting not to choose them until the team is back at its Pretoria base.
That means the likes of Gerhard Steenekamp, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Johan Grobbelaar, Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, Canan Moodie and Handre Pollard will all be available for the Bulls this weekend against the Lions.
WIESE, PAPIER ALSO EXPECTED BACK
Added to this, it is expected that Cobus Wiese, who was on leave since returning from the Springboks, and Embrose Papier, who had an ankle injury, should also be available, while Akker van der Merwe will be assessed after his calf injury ruled him out of the opening two rounds.
That should give the Bulls a very different look to them, with the added bonus that Harold Vorster, who missed the Munster game because of illness, should be ready to take his place if needed.
The good news is that the rest of the pack, front row excluded, looks in fine form, with both locks Reinhardt Ludwig and Ruan Vermaak, as well as flankers Marcell Coetzee, Jeandre Rudolph and Hanro Liebenberg all staking claims to play again.
Two things that didn’t work on Saturday were the experiment with Stravino Jacobs at 12, who looked nervous and unsure, but it is probably too soon to shelve the move just yet. It is unlikely to be repeated this weekend, but could be back later in the season.
Vorster and Moodie should be the midfield combination, especially as there were few players in the backline that had a strong game against Munster. Curwin Bosch’s charged-down try apart, the 10 was solid for the Bulls, while Zak Burger, Jacobs and Stedman Gans all had games they would rather forget.
MUCH STRONGER SIDE EXPECTED
So unless Ackermann has other ideas, the majority of the Boks should be back for the game, and while in places such as lock and loose forward, they may be mixed and matched and some may come off the bench, a much stronger Bulls side is expected to take the field for their first home game.
Ackermann was putting on a brave face after the loss to Munster, which flattered the Bulls as a more clinical side would have put a lot more points on them. Credit must go to the Bulls defence, which was excellent against the relentless Munster attack.
“I felt proud of the effort, proud of how the guys fought and gave us a chance right at the end, that, if we scored a try, we could even get away with the win,” Ackermann said.
“But obviously I'm disappointed in the fact that it's a game that you feel you could have easily got the result if one or two things were just better. Our execution, one or two errors, maybe decision-making in the kicking and the passing game. There's times that we should have passed, that we kicked or vice versa; that we passed, we were forced to pass, but we should have kicked and then obviously the handling errors or the knock-ons. It just felt that we played a lot of the game in the wrong areas because of our own errors or maybe some penalties.
PROUD OF THE EFFORT
“But I'm proud, especially in the first part of the game; we really defended well and then there were still parts in the second half that they could have easily run away with, even though they probably didn't feel like they were in that control. They probably could have scored if we didn't defend so well.
“So I want to give credit also to Munster for their victory, but saying that, we didn't help that as three of the soft tries they scored off our errors. Then there were unfortunately two incidents missed by the TMO that should have been one, our penalty and two, should have been our line-out, but they missed it and it ended up in a scrum for Munster and I think consequence from that scrum, they got a reward on points later. So it's a pity that technology still gets it wrong, you know.
“There was good variation in our attack, but still our execution wasn't good and then there were times that I felt we could have been probably a bit more direct instead of just trying to play, but when we got it right, we looked good and then unfortunately there were times that we just lacked that final touches.
“There's always areas to improve on attack and as well as, you know, a lot of other areas that we'll keep working on.”
The Bulls will name their side to face the Lions on Thursday.