The Vodacom Bulls will look to give themselves a Springbok boost to try and continue their momentum going into Round 3 of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, as they embark on a three-week tour sitting at the top of a congested log.
The Bulls' win over Leinster was ill-tempered and hard-fought, but ultimately, the fact that they stopped Leinster from getting a losing bonus point showed how much fight there is in the side that has been decimated by Bok call-ups and injuries.
The squad that will depart for Ireland on Monday, though, will be boosted by the news that several of the Springboks who have been part of the Castle Lager Rugby Championship squad will be available for selection.
BIG GUNS BACK
While coach Johan Ackermann has been wary to include players right away, there is no doubt he will be looking forward to having some of his big guns back, but just who will be available will need to be sorted out when the players join the Bulls in Galway ahead of Saturday’s match against Ulster.
What it will probably come down to, in terms of which Boks will be used, is a look at how much action they had in the Rugby Championship, especially as the team will be gathering again in a few weeks for the end-of-year tour.
Someone like captain Ruan Nortje, for instance, has been a regular starter, while Handre Pollard, who has yet to play for the Bulls since joining them from Montpellier, last played against New Zealand at Eden Park.
NOT ALL BOKS MAY BE USED
So you can expect Ackermann to integrate and not necessarily start all the team’s Boks when they get back to the squad.
Pollard, though, looks likely to be used almost immediately, while props Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Wilco Louw - who were both part of the bomb squad at Twickenham, should have a role as well.
Nortje may well sit this one out or be on the bench, while Marco van Staden also hasn’t played for a few weeks and is likely to be roped in, especially now that Marcell Coetzee is injured.
The only other Bok who can be considered is Canan Moodie, who had a lot of game time in the past few weeks and may join Nortje in having a reduced role in the match.
Part of what makes the management process so difficult is the fact that the Boks have five tests left and will need these players to be match fit and ready if needed by the national team, while contrasting that with the Bulls' needs as they are contracted to the franchise. World Rugby’s new directive that players may only play 30 games a year makes it even more challenging.
Ackermann wasn’t going to be drawn into who will be in and out, but said it was a challenging moment to get the stars back and get them integrated into a system they had not trained in since he was appointed.
MIXED BAG
“Yeah, it's a mixed bag because one, you're excited, and it's a privilege to work with that quality of players. But now, the stuff we talk about now, that team-building process, starts all over again now as we introduce these guys. It's always tough when you come from a level like that and now you have to slot into a new system with players,” Ackermann said after the team’s win over Leinster.
“But luckily they've been part of the team for a while now. So hopefully that will be easy, and it's just basically, like you said, it's a learning experience for me to get to know every player now, their character, what they bring to the team, etc. But I'm excited to see them slowly but surely integrating for a small bit and then obviously going back to the Boks.”
Ackermann said there were plans in place for the integration and he had held a meeting with the Bok contingent when they returned from the New Zealand leg of the Rugby Championship, so it was more a case of implementing it now.
INDIVIDUAL PLANS
“We’ve got individual plans in place, but injuries have already forced one or two changes now. Hopefully we will integrate them, and it's a question for them as we have to trust, you know, that they will slot in and they will find a place where they will excel and enjoy the transition.
“Hopefully they'll find it easy because it is obviously just information and it's a bit more difficult probably for a guy like Handre - only because he is the newest and the other guys have played with the team before.
“It's probably the biggest challenge for him to slot in for his first games if we want to use him.”
The Bulls will name their squad for the tour on Monday.