The Vodacom Bulls welcomed back a trio of strike force players ahead of their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Scarlets in Llanelli on Saturday night as they look for their first victory ever in the tournament in the Welsh hamlet.
Wingers Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheswill Jooste, two of the most potent attacking weapons in the tournament, and Springbok tighthead Wilco Louw all return to add their X-factor to the Bulls squad who are looking to make a bold run into the playoff rounds of the competition.
The Bulls have been on tour now for four weeks, and know that if they can get a victory at Scarlets, it sets them up for a promising final two weeks where they have the opportunity - if all goes well - to even sneak into the top four.
The return of Arendse and Jooste is a big boost for the Bulls, especially as both are world-class finishers and the Bulls will be looking for a bonus point.
With Canan Moodie out with a hamstring injury, and long-term injuries to Stravino Jacobs and Sebastian de Klerk, the Bulls could use some firepower.
Arendse replaces Moodie, and Jooste comes in for David Kriel, who has shifted to fullback for Devon Williams. Up front, other than Louw, Ruan Vermaak comes into the side in a straight swap with Cobus Wiese.
Coach Johan Ackermann believes that the return of the two wingers is a massive boost to his side.
“As you were aware, they got injured in the Glasgow game,” Ackermann said, “So luckily, we had that week off after the EPCR quarterfinals were on. And then we had the Dragons, where they also didn't play. So this is their third week.
“So we're confident that from an injury point, they both are fully fit to play. Obviously, they haven't played now for two and a bit weeks, but they both are naturally just blessed to be fit. So that won't be an issue.
“I know Cheswell is early in his career, but I think he's proven that he can play at this level. And we understand that he's a young guy, there will be mistakes, but that's fine. There's enough senior players around him to support him.
WORLD-CLASS ABILITIES
“Kurt-Leei is world-class. He obviously was unlucky this year with not having continuous games. He came back from the Springboks with a sore knee and then had one or two niggles.
“But if we can get a run-in of games with him, we know that we've seen in the past these players that have got these world-class abilities, they don't need a lot of games to get back to their best. So hopefully, it will start against the Scarlets.”
Ackermann admitted he was looking for a full 80 minutes from his side.
“Obviously, the fact that we lost against Glasgow and then had that week off before we played the Dragons was an opportunity to freshen up the guys and then play two games. And then next week is an off week again, because it's Champions Cup games again.
“So we feel that nobody's really overplayed on minutes maybe, but not continuously, you know, seven, eight, nine games. And then that's the one reason. The second and probably the biggest reason is, if you look at Scarlet's, you know, Scarlets are a very good team.
“They haven't been outplayed by any team this season and could have won a lot of games with small margins. There weren’t a lot of points in it. Also if you analyse them, there's a lot of quality. They have a good setpiece, a lot of X-factor players. So we need to be at our best.”
The game kicks off at 8.45pm SA time.
VODACOM BULLS: David Kriel; Cheswill Jooste, Stedman Gans, Harold Vorster, Kurt-Lee Arendse; Handre Pollard, Embrose Papier; Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, Marcell Coetzee (capt), Ruan Nortje, Ruan Vermaak, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp.
REPLACEMENTS: Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Francois Kloppers, Cobus Wiese, Celimpilo Gumede, Paul de Wet, Willie le Roux, Jeandre Rudolph.