Scarra on Lood's presence in Bulls side

The presence of Springbok Lood de Jager in the Vodacom Blue Bulls pack will considerably add to the challenge that DHL Western Province face when they start their Currie Cup season against their traditional rivals at Newlands on Saturday.

As centre Ruhan Nel reminded the Cape media at the start of the build-up week, the most recent Currie Cup game between the two sides provided an object example of why Province have massive respect for their opponents even though it is the hosts who look the more experienced and settled side at this point.

“Last year we went to Loftus and played in storm conditions and easily scored four tries and ran up a big score in a game that didn’t even reach the second half before it was abandoned,” said Nel.

“But then a few weeks later they came to Cape Town for the semifinal as rank underdogs and they took us to the 100th minute (extra time) before we could break them. That shows what kind of team they are and what they are capable of and we are expecting a really tough opening game.”

Experienced WP hooker Scarra Ntubeni though identified an additional reason why the Bulls are going to be difficult to contain. He reckons that De Jager will have a massive influence.

“It’s going to be much tougher for us with Lood there,” admitted Ntubeni.

“Lood is the type of guy who will sit on a Sunday and work for three or four hours working out our lineout and then he will present it to the team on a Monday. He enjoys that sort of thing, he is a clever player and he puts in a lot of effort. Since the days of Victor Matfield the Bulls have always had a strong focus on their lineouts.

“So we will be very aware of his presence and it will make it more challenging. The Bulls have a good backline and we are aware of that but when you play them there are always a lot of set pieces and they put a lot of emphasis on that. Lood will be playing a controlling role and leading from the front.”

You know what time it is. It's Currie Cup time this week. DHL WP kick things off against Vodacom Blue Bulls at DHL Newlands on Saturday. #wpjoulekkerding pic.twitter.com/ZPLOekq89f

— WP RUGBY (@WP_RUGBY) July 8, 2019

Judging from the team that ran at the High Performance Centre on Monday WP will be fielding a team that isn’t too far off the side that finished Super Rugby. In fact, in some areas it might be even stronger, for Salmaan Moerat looks set to return to the second row alongside Chris van Zyl, who is likely to lead the side again this year, with JD Schickerling playing a bench role.

Cobus Wiese is out injured for the season and Johan du Toit and Kobus van Dyk is also out so one area of concern for coach John Dobson will be blindside flank. WP would have boasted a particularly powerful Currie Cup pack had those players been present.

With Carlu Sadie having returned from his stint with the Lions one area that WP are overflowing with riches is tighthead prop. There are no less than four tightheads in the squad who boast Currie Cup experience in the form of Sadie, Wilco Louw, Michael Kumbirai and the impressive Neethling Fouche. Watch the last mentioned this season if he gets an extended opportunity, he could well be challenging Louw and Frans Malherbe (currently with the Boks) for the right to be recognised as the first choice No 3 next year.

At this point it looks likely that Malherbe will stay on the WP/Stormers books as the contracting issues that were threatening to blow the playing group apart ahead of the next Super Rugby season have been sorted out. Although there has been plenty of talk of an exodus in recent months the only players definitely leaving WP at the end of the season are Eben Etzebeth and Damian de Allende.