Bulls coach Jake White agrees that the franchise is far from being a finished product but he is happy with where they are and their progress in both the United Rugby Championship (URC) and Currie Cup.
The Bulls travel to Cape Town where they will face the Stormers in the URC’s SA Shield top-of-the-table battle at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (2pm).
A victory for White’s men will see them lead the standings on both the SA Shield and the Currie Cup table.
The Bulls have managed to turn around their negative start to the URC and put themselves in a good place to qualify for the knockouts of the Northern versus Southern hemisphere tournament.
What makes this sweet for White is that the Bulls have lost a few of their key players who found greener pastures abroad while others are still nursing injuries.
“We are not the end product yet, we still have a long, long way to go but very happy with where we are,” White said.
“We don’t have (Johan) Goosen, we don’t have Jacques van Rooyen, Jacques du Plessis, Sintu Manjezi.
“We have lost Trevor (Nyankane), we have lost Ivan van Zyl, so we’ve had a couple of setbacks and saying that, we are very happy with where we are.
“A couple of weeks ago we were 14th on the URC log and third in the Currie Cup. As things stand now, we are seventh in the URC and we are first in the Currie Cup,” the former Springbok coach said.
“It’s a wonderful place to be in and there’s a wonderful buzz in our squad and wonderful buzz in Pretoria.”
White named veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis as a replacement despite the fact the player had a hearing late on Friday over allegations that he slapped Western Province’s Ben-Jason Dixon during the Currie Cup match at Loftus on Wednesday.
“I’m 100% sure (he won’t be suspended). I read an article where one of the players said he thinks that Bismarck slapped him. I think you don’t get cited for anybody who thinks you slapped him,” White said.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon. There’s a lot of hype in this game. It reminds me of the old days of Northern Transvaal. Hopefully, there will be massive crowds because we’ve got all the makings of an unbelievable game where a winner takes all.
“That’s what people play sport for — to get into these situations.”
Lock Dixon, who was allegedly slapped, is among the Stormers’ replacements for the clash.
TEAMS
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Substitutes: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Ben-Jason Dixon, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Warrick Gelant.
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Substitutes: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
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'We are not a finished product yet,' Bulls coach White says ahead of Stormers duel
Image: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
Bulls coach Jake White agrees that the franchise is far from being a finished product but he is happy with where they are and their progress in both the United Rugby Championship (URC) and Currie Cup.
The Bulls travel to Cape Town where they will face the Stormers in the URC’s SA Shield top-of-the-table battle at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (2pm).
A victory for White’s men will see them lead the standings on both the SA Shield and the Currie Cup table.
The Bulls have managed to turn around their negative start to the URC and put themselves in a good place to qualify for the knockouts of the Northern versus Southern hemisphere tournament.
What makes this sweet for White is that the Bulls have lost a few of their key players who found greener pastures abroad while others are still nursing injuries.
“We are not the end product yet, we still have a long, long way to go but very happy with where we are,” White said.
“We don’t have (Johan) Goosen, we don’t have Jacques van Rooyen, Jacques du Plessis, Sintu Manjezi.
“We have lost Trevor (Nyankane), we have lost Ivan van Zyl, so we’ve had a couple of setbacks and saying that, we are very happy with where we are.
“A couple of weeks ago we were 14th on the URC log and third in the Currie Cup. As things stand now, we are seventh in the URC and we are first in the Currie Cup,” the former Springbok coach said.
“It’s a wonderful place to be in and there’s a wonderful buzz in our squad and wonderful buzz in Pretoria.”
White named veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis as a replacement despite the fact the player had a hearing late on Friday over allegations that he slapped Western Province’s Ben-Jason Dixon during the Currie Cup match at Loftus on Wednesday.
“I’m 100% sure (he won’t be suspended). I read an article where one of the players said he thinks that Bismarck slapped him. I think you don’t get cited for anybody who thinks you slapped him,” White said.
“I can’t wait for tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon. There’s a lot of hype in this game. It reminds me of the old days of Northern Transvaal. Hopefully, there will be massive crowds because we’ve got all the makings of an unbelievable game where a winner takes all.
“That’s what people play sport for — to get into these situations.”
Lock Dixon, who was allegedly slapped, is among the Stormers’ replacements for the clash.
TEAMS
Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Substitutes: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Ben-Jason Dixon, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Warrick Gelant.
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Substitutes: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
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