Bulls bring out the big guns

The Vodacom Bulls brought back two of their big guns for this weekend’s Vodacom Super 14 match against the Highlanders at Loftus Versfeld, as Pierre Spies and Dewald Potgieter made welcome returns to the squad.

Spies returns from a knee injury after missing out on the victory over the Waratahs a fortnight ago, while Potgieter, who was on the bench in that match, moves up for his first start in this year’s competition at the expense of flanker Pedrie Wannenburg.

Danie Rossouw, who filled in for Spies against the Waratahs, moves back to lock, with Flip van der Merwe, who had two impressive starts in the last two games, moving back onto the bench.

Interestingly the Bulls have named a five-two bench with scrumhalf Heini Adams nowhere to be seen. Francois Hougaard, who is on the left wing, will fill in at scrumhalf in a crisis.

“Heini means a lot to us and it was important that he gets a full game before the tour starts,” coach Frans Ludeke said in explaining the decision to send Adams back to the Vodacom Cup this weekend.

Another interesting selection is the move to keep Derik Kuün at openside flank rather than Deon Stegmann, but Ludeke said this was part of the rotation policy in the squad and had nothing to do with a pecking order among flankers.

“It is part of the squad system and our rotation policy. The players all know the way we work and they all buy into it,” Ludeke added.

“The Super 14 is a race over a season, but the team comes first and everybody bought into it. We have spoken about it at length and everything is geared to giving ourselves a chance at the end of the season when the play-offs begin.”

Ludeke said his rationale to have two flankers on the bench and not the traditional two props in a five-two formation was because of the importance of the breakdown in the modern game.

“If you look at the breakdown area, it worked well for us to have fresh legs on the field later in the game,” Ludeke added.

While admitting Flip van der Merwe was unlucky not to make the starting line-up after his impressive performances of late, there was a greater need for experience this weekend as the Bulls are looking for their fourth straight home victory.

“We know Flip played very well when he filled in, and Danna was the first to say that to me. Danna helped us out at No 8 in the last match and we were happy with the way he played. That is why we decided to move him back to his natural position as lock this week.

“It is something that is great at the moment, there is a healthy team environment and everybody puts their hands up to do their part. Then on a Saturday between those four lines they push each other to do their best. It’s a great situation to be in.”

Saturday will also see Victor Matfield captain the side for the 50th time in his 99th Super 14 match, while flyhalf Morné Steyn needs just 23 points to equal the Super rugby record for the fastest century of points in a season. The current record was set by Gavin Lawless in 1997.

Bulls: 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.