Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke was forced into a couple of changes to his team to face the Waratahs in Sydney on Friday.
Prop Dean Greyling, replacement prop Frik Kirsten, flanker Jacques Potgieter and midfielder Wynand Olivier, who all played in the 41-35 win over the Rebels last week, were ruled out of the clash in the Sydney Football Stadium.
Greyling flew back to South Africa as his wife gave birth yesterday and Kirsten and Potgieter returned to Pretoria after a broken hand and injured knee respectively ended their tour prematurely.
Olivier injured ribs, but should be fit to play next week.
Dawie Steyn will replace Greyling in the front row, while Rayno Gerber, who flew in from South Africa yesterday to join the squad in Sydney, will move to the bench to replace Kirsten.
With open side flanker Deon Stegmann fit again, Ludeke decided to move incumbent CJ Stander to the blind side, where he will replace Potgieter, resulting in a new loose forward combination.
Olivier is replaced by Francois Venter and will team up with Johann Sadie, who swops jerseys with JJ Engelbrecht, the latter moving to the bench and Sadie into the 13 jersey as part of Ludeke’s rotational policy.
Venter and Sadie last combined in the Bulls opening week win over the Sharks.
“We are lucky to have cover in those positions. Francois played very well for us earlier in the season, while Deon is very keen to start contributing again,” Ludeke said.
“Dawie of course, played against the Brumbies three weeks ago and did very well, while Rayno brings massive experience with his inclusion. We need to keep up the momentum of our opening win on tour, but the Waratahs will make it very difficult for us, no doubt.”
Vodacom Bulls captain, Pierre Spies, expressed confidence ahead of the clash.
“We have not played well during week two of previous tours, so we worked on changing the mindset. The win over the Rebels showed what we can do on attack and what work is left on defence. We needed to fix those errors. We hope to deliver an all-round performance against a very dangerous opponent.”
The team to play the Waratahs (with Super caps) is: Zane Kirchner (63), Akona Ndungane (76), Johann Sadie (14), Francois Venter (3), Bjorn Basson (34), Morné Steyn (98), Francois Hougaard (37), Pierre Spies (81), CJ Stander (9), Deon Stegmann (57), Juandré Kruger (9), Flip van der Merwe (41), Werner Kruger (67), Chiliboy Ralepelle (44), Dawie Steyn (1). Replacements: Willie Wepener (45), Rayno Gerber (33), Wilhelm Steenkamp (44), Arno Botha (6), Jano Vermaak (81), Louis Fouché (6), JJ Engelbrecht (9).
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May 8th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
Tough to call this one after the scare the Rebels gave them… and the fact the Tahs are smarting from the Brumbie pumping…
6 changes including some dropped to the bench rather than rotation…
Going to be good to see Hougaard vs Pretorius for both the fans and selectors (for this reason I have said it’s better for a RSA youngster, wanting international experience yet remain in Bok contention, to play for an NZAR team rather than go up North)…
May 9th, 2012 at 6:01 am
Reply to bryce_in_oz @ 2:19 pm: Hadn’t thought about the halfback tussle but is Pretorius in the run-on side or will he play the last 20 mins again?
The Tahs were disappointing against the Brumbies. Never in with a chance or are Jake’s Brumbies that much better this year? Bulls can be relieved they are not playing the Brumbies in Canberra I suppose?
May 9th, 2012 at 6:28 am
Reply to out wide @ 6:01 am:
Yes indeed… Sarel is starting and they have made several changes for the Bulls (packing the midfield with more grunt)…
Brumbies are most definitely a much better side this year… and this with 13 first choice players having left including captain…
They are the most conditioned side in the comp with JW having started them off 3 months earlier than the rest, they have a new belief in themselves, JW’s captain is already outperforming Elsom in every way, their pack hunts as a unit… and they have more line-breaks than any other team in the comp and tellingly this stat too in their opposition’s 22…
Tah’s made a mistake many teams are doing this year… attempting to run everything and then conceding turnover after 50m’s…
May 9th, 2012 at 7:52 am
Reply to bryce_in_oz @ 6:28 am: Who is reffing the game? Hopefully a neutral. Reunion last night raised the ridiculous situation here in NZ where we had Jaco Peyper reffing the NZ derby between the Canes and the Blues whereas the unpopular kiwi Bryce Lawrence reffed the Crusaders v Reds game which as it was won ugly on penalties has had Reds supporters accusing that it was won unfairly.
As Tony Johnson of Reunion pointed out, it would have been so easy to swop the 2 and appoint Peyper (who he rates highly) to the crucial Crusaders v Reds game.
May 9th, 2012 at 11:16 am
Reply to out wide @ 7:52 am:
Ironically Peyper is not rate by the Aussies for missing Habana’s knock-on against the Force and another incident the next… but he’s fairly new… he’d decent so far…
May 9th, 2012 at 2:14 pm
Even the Kiwis don’t rate Bryce…
Brilliant
The complaints from SA after RWC seem to have taken hold… Lawrence is a kak ref… days numbered…