Cape Town - The Blue Bulls will be going all out to overturn a humiliating first-round Currie Cup defeat to the Pumas when they lock horns at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday afternoon (3.35pm kickoff).
The Pretoria side, who had introduced a new head coach in Edgar Marutlulle, were run off their feet at Loftus Versfeld on March 12 as they slumped to a disastrous 63-15 victory.
Director of rugby Jake White took charge for the next Currie Cup game, where several URC players featured, but they went down at home again in a 41-33 loss to Western Province.
Marutlulle’s regular Currie Cup side was back in action against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, which saw the Bulls beaten 32-7, and a week later, the unthinkable happened as they lost 32-28 to the Griffons in Welkom.
White decided to take drastic action and move Marutlulle back to the Bulls junior teams, while he became the Currie Cup head coach in addition to his URC duties.
Things have improved over the last few weeks, with wins over Griquas and the Lions following their exit from the URC in a quarter-final defeat to the Stormers.
So, the Bulls are pushing hard for a semi-final berth, and are on 27 points. They are currently in seventh position, but the Lions did them a favour with a 34-12 bonus-point triumph over Western Province at Athlone Stadium on Friday night.
That results means that WP are fourth and the Lions fifth, both on 31 points, so the Bulls could move up to fourth themselves with a bonus-point win over the Pumas – depending on what happens between the Cheetahs (38 points) and Griquas (28) in Bloemfontein on Saturday (1.30pm kickoff).
“We just need to play for 80 minutes. Last week (in a 33-32 win over the Lions), we played so well in the first 20 minutes and we were leading comfortably, and then we let them back into the game with one or two stupid errors,” White said on Friday after naming an unchanged match-23.
“So, I think it needs 80 minutes. They are Currie Cup champions and are a difficult team to beat away, and they beat us comfortably at Loftus in the opening round. They and Griquas have the whole year to prepare for only one competition. So when you look at their game, they’ve got peels around the front and back of the lineout, players in midfield, players to change direction… They kick sometimes, they run sometimes.
“They have an incredibly long pre-season, from basically November and they have a couple of weeks off in December, and then they carry on.
“That’s why I think they are so difficult to beat, because they’ve got so many options to their game. So, there is a lot to play for this weekend.”
The Bulls will hope that Embrose Papier can again spark them into action. The nippy scrumhalf has been in fine form over the last month, with his kicking game complementing his trademark speed across the ground.
White said that the 26-year-old No 9 – who has seven Springbok Test caps to his name – was unlucky to have a try against the Lions ruled out last week.
“That try that Embrose Papier scored… I got feedback and it wasn’t offside, it was a try that was disallowed. All of a sudden it’s a penalty and they kick into the corner and kick it over – it’s a 10-point swing there,” the former Bok coach said.
“All of a sudden, it becomes a difficult game. There were moments of ill-discipline, but also some calls went against us. It’s just the way it’s been happening for us, and hopefully we will get those calls in the next couple of games.
“The ability to put the same team on the field gives us continuity. We can’t really change many things now. We’ve got three games left, and then hopefully into the playoffs.”
Teams For Mbombela
Pumas: 15 Devon Williams 14 Andrew Kota 13 Diego Appollis 12 Wian van Niekerk 11 Etienne Taljaard 10 Tinus de Beer 9 Giovan Snyman 8 Kwanda Dimaza 7 Franna Kleinhans 6 André Fouché 5 Shane Kirkwood (captain) 4 Deon Slabbert 3 Njabulo Gumede 2 Corné Fourie 1 Cameron Dawson.
Bench: 16 PJ Jacobs 17 Dewald Maritz 18 Simon Raw 19 Malembe Mpofu 20 Ruwald van der Merwe 21 Lundi Msenge 22 Brandon Thomson 23 Jaco Labuschagne.
Blue Bulls: 15 David Kriel 14 Sibongile Novuka 13 Stedman Gans 12 Harold Vorster 11 Marco Jansen van Vuren 10 Johan Goosen 9 Embrose Papier 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Nizaam Carr 6 Marcell Coetzee 5 Ruan Nortjé (captain) 4 Ruan Vermaak 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Bench: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Francois Klopper 19 Charlie Ewels 20 WJ Steenkamp 21 Keagan Johannes 22 Chris Smith 23 Cornal Hendricks.
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