The Vodacom Bulls and DHL Stormers won’t consider their lives “together” to be precious, so they’d have to ignore the lyrics, but the John Lennon song Starting Over could otherwise easily be the theme tune for Saturday’s big Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash in Pretoria.
Both teams have more work to do if they want to build a base for their challenge for URC honours than the two teams that will clash earlier in the afternoon down the N1 and M1 highways at Emirates Airline Park. The Stormers do have a draw to their credit in addition to the one win, which is what the Bulls have, but both teams are languishing near the bottom of the log.
If it weren’t for the unexpected defeat to the Emirates Lions in Cape Town in the derby fixture that was hastily rescheduled to replace two games against overseas teams at the beginning of last month, the Stormers wouldn’t feel like they had to start over.
They showed a lot of promise on their four-match overseas tour, and should feel aggrieved that the arrival of Omicron robbed them of the opportunity to play Zebre and Cardiff as they’d have had a good chance of winning both games.
But there is no use in crying over spilt milk and the error-ridden performance against the Lions has left them under pressure and desperate as they go to a venue where they haven’t won a serious game in a while (the Western Province Currie Cup win there last year doesn’t count because the Bulls first team was committed to the Rainbow Cup final that day).
BULLS FACE A MASSIVE CLIMB TO CATCH LEINSTER
Likewise, the Bulls, after their defeat to the Sharks in Durban, have a mountain to climb if they want to be in with a chance of competing with the impressive Leinster team that showed such ominous form in hammering Montpellier in the Champions Cup last weekend.
Given how good Leinster are at the moment, it is hard to see the Bulls catching them from where they are now, but the Bulls do need to engage the re-set button if they want to compete for playoff places and challenge for a place in the European competition next year.
The Cell C Sharks have momentum after their good win over the Bulls in Durban in December and are suddenly looking like the South African team most likely to mount a challenge. Lions fans might quibble with that because the Johannesburg team was outstanding against the Stormers and has generally exceeded expectations in the early stages of the URC.
However, there is the question of depth. The first two rounds of the Carling Currie Cup have shown that the Sharks have the playing depth that the Lions lack, and that’s why they are more likely to sustain a challenge over the long competition that the URC is.
LIONS HAVE BIG ALTITUDE ADVANTAGE
The Lions can dent that theory by winning at Emirates Airlines Park in Saturday’s first game though, and they will have the altitude, which is felt more acutely by coastal teams during the summer months and particularly in a mid-afternoon game, on their side.
“It is true that playing in the afternoon is tougher from an altitude perspective as there will be more heat than for the later fixture, and it is also true that altitude is felt more in summer, but we have prepared for it,” said Sharks coach Sean Everitt after naming his team on Thursday.
“The big thing is getting through those first 20 minutes when it really bites you. What we have to do is do what is implied by the Afrikaans word ‘vasbyt’. However, the last time we went to Ellis Park we won well and put a lot of points on the board by playing a fast-paced, attractive brand of rugby, so we are confident we can do it.”
Given how they want to play, it may even be a good thing for the Sharks that they are away from Durban, where they have been training in the oppressive sub-tropical summer humidity that does give them an advantage when teams visit but also forces them away from playing ball in hand rugby.
Both coaches appear to be expecting a fast-paced game but it will be brave of the Sharks to try to run too hard at the start as the almost two months since their last game means they could lack match fitness.
NOT PLAYING URC PLAYERS IN CUP COULD PROVE DISADVANTAGE
That cues the subject of the Bulls’ approach to the URC and Currie Cup. Eyebrows have been raised and questions asked in some quarters about the domestic champions fielding URC players across their first two Currie Cup games, but it makes a lot of sense and the Stormers, Lions and Sharks could all find themselves regretting not doing the same.
Not that it was really an option for the Sharks, who have played just one Cup game and it was in midweek, just three days before the Johannesburg match.
SATURDAY'S VODACOM UNITED RUGBY FIXTURES
Emirates Lions v Cell C Sharks (Johannesburg, 15.00)
Unsurprisingly the Lions have stuck largely with the team that beat the Stormers. They have been forced to go without the magnificent Vincent Tshituka, and that is a significant loss, but coach Ivan van Rooyen has been pleased to welcome back Pumas captain Pieter Janse van Vuren to his second row.
The Sharks have called up former Wallaby, Reds, Force and Harlequins centre Ben Tapaui and coach Sean Everitt is expecting him to bring a new dimension to his team’s game. He’s not quite a direct replacement for Andre Esterhuizen, and has a different skill-set and is not as big (who is among inside centres?), but he apparently does have a good left boot like Esterhuizen has, and that is one of the things Everitt hopes will benefit the Sharks.
The Durbanites have called up most of their Boks for this game but Siya Kolisi and Bongi Mbonambi are absent because they were given extra time off over Christmas and should be expected to make their starts to this phase of the competition against their old Stormers teammates in Durban next Saturday.
Teams
Emirates Lions: EW Viljoen, Edwill van der Merwe, Wandisile Simelane, Burger Odendaal, Rabs Maxwane; Fred Zeilinga, Andre Warner; Francke Horn, Ruhan Straeuli, Jaco Kriel, Pieter Jansen van Vuren, Ruben Schoeman, Carlu Sadie, Jaco Visagie, Sti Sithole. Replacements: PJ Botha, Morgan Naude, Ruan Dreyer, Willem Alberts, Emmanuel Tshituka, Morne van der Berg, Matt More, Tiaan Swanepoel.
Cell C Sharks team: Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (captain), Ben Tapuai, Makazole Mapimpi, Boeta Chamberlain, Grant Williams, Pephsi Buthelezi, Jeandre Labuschagne, James Venter, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Kerron van Vuuren, Ox Nche. Replacements: Fez Mbatha, Nthuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Reniel Hugo, Henco Venter, Jaden Hendrikse, Tito Bonilla, Jeremy Ward.
Prediction: Sharks to scrape home in close and entertaining game.
Vodacom Bulls v DHL Stormers (Pretoria, 17.05)
Neither coach has named his team yet and both combinations are eagerly awaited given the uncertainties.
For the Stormers, the big selection focus is at fullback, where coach John Dobson has to choose between two Springbok No15s in the form of Warrick Gelant and Damian Willemse. He could play Willemse of course at centre, and maybe he should, but the smart money should be on Willemse starting and Gelant backing up from the bench for this game.
The Bulls have left the Stormers guessing over what combination they will put in the field by fielding most of their URC players in the first two Currie Cup games. Although it is still possible they will be selected to start, expect Marcell Coetzee, Bismarck du Plessis and Morne Steyn to play off the bench at best as they all went beyond the 70th minute against Western Province in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The Stormers have pushed the Bulls close at Loftus in recent times but they will have to make a marked improvement on the form they showed against the Lions if they are to get over the line. But if both teams replicate the form of their respective overseas tours, where the Bulls were mostly disappointing but the Stormers showed promise, it could be close again and the Stormers will have a definite chance.
TeamsVodacom Bulls: TBC
DHL Stormers: TBC
Prediction: Bulls to win by 8.