Bulls team released
Posted by Morné - 10/03/10 at 06:03 pm under Super 14Vodacom Bulls flanker, Dewald Potgieter, will start in his first Vodacom Super 14 match of the season when his side takes on the Highlanders at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Media release
Potgieter came off the bench against the Waratahs two weeks ago after a knee strain ruled him out of the Bulls first two fixtures.
He replaces stalwart Pedrie Wannenburg, who moves to the bench, from where he will earn his 102nd cap.
Captain Victor Matfield will lead the side for the 50th time and will play in his 99th game of Super Rugby.
Coach Frans Ludeke welcomed back a fit-again Pierre Spies at number eight, where he will partner Potgieter and Derick Kuün, who will start for a second consecutive week at open side. Deon Stegmann is still on the bench, along with four other forwards.
He is joined there by Flip van der Merwe, who moves down for Danie Rossouw, with the latter shifting to lock after starting at eight against the Waratahs.
Prop Rossouw de Klerk is on the bench for the first time after a training ground accident ruled out Bees Roux.
Heini Adams drops out of the match 22 to gain playing time for the Vodacom Blue Bulls.
“We have Francois Hougaard who can cover at nine, should anything happens to Fourie du Preez,” coach Frans Ludeke explained.
“Heini needs a full game and we both felt that it will be best served if he plays for the Vodacom Cup side this weekend, “ Ludeke said
“The selection of Derick at open side is also part of the rotational understanding we have. All the players, Deon (Stegmann) included, accept this policy,” Ludeke said.
Matfield indicated that the Highlanders will not be taken lightly.
“They did play badly against the Stormers. They have a strong set phase and with Tom Donnelly in the line-outs, can be very difficult opponents. They created enough chances against the Stormers and we realise that our A-game will be needed to beat them.”
The team is:
Zane Kirchner, Gerhard vd Heever, Stephan Dippenaar, Wynand Olivier, Francois Hougaard, Morné Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Dewald Potgieter, Derick Kuün, Victor Matfield (c), Danie Rossouw, Werner Kruger, Gary Botha, Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: Bandise Maku, Rossouw de Klerk, Flip van der Merwe, Deon Stegmann, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Jaco van der Westhuyzen, Pedrie Wannenburg.
March 11th, 2010 at 3:29 am
I can just see FDP being played into the ground again this year…
March 11th, 2010 at 3:42 am
Time to actually ‘use’ Heini or drop him for Hougaard… albeit there is nobody better on the wing to replace him…
March 11th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
All Black Adam Thomson and star recruit Michael Hobbs have been stood down by the Highlanders for missing a team curfew on their tour of South Africa.
They will not be playing against the Bulls in Pretoria on Sunday (NZ time).
The pair have been disciplined following a night out after the team’s 33-nil hiding by the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend
March 11th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Hobbs has been piss poor and Thompson is a bitch who staggered and fell over like a soccer girl coming home late from “practice” to a drunken stepfather and getting an open handed smack on the cheek after little Rory Kockott plkanted him one in the jaw and duly embarrassed every red blooded Kiwi as we all immediately realized what “Nanny state” really means…
March 11th, 2010 at 10:23 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 10:15 pm:
Was that HIM?
And he did not even get
nominated for an Oskar.
March 11th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
No but Kockott got a red card
I think Thompson will never live down that staggering and fall over acting piece ever in his life…
Must be why they dropped him from the NZ national team too…
March 11th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
It’s a bit difficult to act the “Enforcer” when you pulled a move like that…
I mean can you imagine him going toe to toe and telling Bakkies “Oh yeh!” and bakkies saying “What? Are you going to fall on me and cry?”
Even his teammates must have been embarrassed…
March 11th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 10:25 pm:
Hehehe.
Lyk my dis dood hier vanaand.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:43 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 10:15 pm: Hey David, not sure where you get your info from but you are not right about either Adam Thomson or Michael Hobbs. Yes Thomo did fall over in that Kockitt incident but that is unlike him. He is hard as and a great player who will make it back into the AB’s. As for Michael Hobbs, son of the the former AB and rugby boss Jock Hobbs, he scored 3 tries in the first 2 games when the Highlanders were losing. He can make tries out of nothing and will be sorely missed.
They had the Highlanders CEO Richard Reid on the radio in NZ. He is “pissed off” with his players breaking the curfew. People are asking why it is that kiwi players go off the rails partying in SA each year. Well it is not SA where things go awry, it’s Cape Town. Maybe the guys just like the party capital of SA?
You have to laugh at how it is the fashion to talk up the opposition. Matfield says they have to bring their A game to Loftus but even he must know about the Highlanders losing Cowan, Thomson and Hobbs for this game at altitude.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Reply to out wide @ 11:43 pm:
Thanks for giving us NZ insight.
March 12th, 2010 at 4:49 am
Reply to out wide @ 11:43 pm:
You want Matfield saying:
“Ja, look, I suppose they
will be competitive the
first 20 minutes or so.
But then we should be
hitting the straps and
start pissing all over
them.”
Hehehehe.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:30 am
Reply to Boertjie @ 4:49 am:
And have that stuck up on the change room wall…
That’s like saying in South Africa nobody takes weapons into a political meeting between two opposing parties…. been there and done that and nobody’s falling for that one again…
March 12th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Reply to out wide @ 11:43 pm:
Outwide
Surely everyone in New Zealand was ashamed to see their so-called souithern hardman take a bitchslap from a guy half his size and stagger backwards and fall over clutching his jaw in agony like the wife of a Lions supporter after two bottles of Klippies and a close loss to the WP in Brakpan on a Saturday night?
I know if were one of ours I would never forgive that… it’s…. it’s…. well it’s soccer…
I know who Hobbs is and as I have said before the Highlanders are a team a sneakily support so I follow their progress and despite his tries, Hobbs has been universally overawed IMO and has not delivered. I MUCH prefer Israel Dagg
March 12th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Reply to DavidS @ 9:37 am:
all the kiwis I know are filthy with him.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:32 am
Thomson certainly not the first Kiwi to take a dive in a match.
Ask the Welsh.