Vodacom Bulls lock Flip van der Merwe has been passed fit to face the Waratahs in Sydney on Saturday and will lead the team for their third tour match to Australasia.
This will be the first of two matches the Vodacom Bulls will play in Australia as part of their Vodacom Super Rugby tour.
Van der Merwe got injured in last weekend’s bonus point loss to the Highlanders in Dunedin, but has recovered sufficiently from his arm injury to lead the team.
Bulls Media Release
Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke named the same starting team that played in Dunedin, but made one change on the bench, where Rudy Paige will act as scrumhalf cover. Should Paige takes to the field it will be his first appearance in the competition this year.
“We are very keen to get back on the winning trail. We had opportunities in Napier and Dunedin, but could not convert enough of those to secure us victory. We have played well in patches, so will be looking for a solid performance in Sydney,” Ludeke said.
“We realise we are facing one of the leading teams in the competitions in the Waratahs, who has been playing great rugby this season, but also know that we are very hard to beat if we stay in our structures, rhythm and manage to keep the ball.”
Van der Merwe said they owe it to themselves to deliver on Saturday.
“We are desperate for a win and the only way we will achieve that is by showing up and playing to our potential on Saturday. We have ambitions in this tournament, but we need to make a stronger statement about that than we have done up to now.
Vodacom Bulls (caps in brackets): 15 Jurgen Visser (19), 14 Bjorn Basson (63), 13 JJ Engelbrecht (41), 12 Jan Serfontein (20), 11 Francois Hougaard (64), 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter (48), 9 Piet van Zyl (39), 8 Grant Hattingh (27), 7 Jacques du Plessis (9), 6 Jono Ross (11), 5 Victor Matfield (131), 4 Flip van der Merwe (69, Captain), 3 Werner Kruger (100), 2 Callie Visagie (31), 1 Dean Greyling (46)
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi (8), 17 Marcel van der Merwe (23), 18 Morné Mellett (16), 19 Paul Willemse (12), 20 Jacques Engelbrecht (20), 21 Rudy Paige (4), 22 Handré Pollard (6), 23 William Small-Smith (1).
Milestones:
- Victor Matfield will become the most capped Vodacom Bulls player in the Vodacom Super Rugby competition in playing in his 124th match for the franchise. He surpasses Mornè Steyn (123 matches). Matfield is also the most experienced South African in Super Rugby (131 matches), having played for the Cats in his debut season. He is also the most experienced South African captain in Super Rugby, having captained the Vodacom Bulls 77 times.
- Francois Hougaard is one try away from 100 Vodacom Super Rugby points.
- Rudy Paige will play in his first Vodacom Super Rugby match of the season, should he take to the field.
Jeez, still the freegin same unbalanced loosie combo.
But more important, the Bulls will have to cut out the error-rate!
Gooooooooo Bulls!
o bliksem, 3 scrummies in een span, Bulls can win this, the Tahs have proven to be very vulnerable at times this year, at might be complacent with the first game at home in a few weeks.
@ grootblousmile:
Hoe het WSSmith laasweek gespeel? ek het die game gemis
3 @ MacroBull:
Nie sleg gespeel nie, Moooosa, maar nouja die hele span was vol freegin ongedwonge foute… en DIT is wat hulle die game gekos het.
Eerste keer dat ek hoor van ‘n afrigter wat net met 13 spelers in sy beginspan speel. Geen nr.6 en nr.8 in sy span nie. Die ander 13 spelers sal baie goed moet wees om hierdie game te wen. JDP sal moet duik vir 2 ekstra spelers en iemand sal fetcher moet speel ?
Gaan maar dieselfde storie wees. Bulle wat met groot belofte begin, vir so 20 minute soos kampioene speel, en dan gaan die feit van met 13 spelers speel hulle begin vang. Jy kan hoe fiks wees, maar geen span kan wen met twee geelkaarte in sy geledere nie, veral nie vir 60 minute nie.
Maar ja, as jy dom is moet jy sukkel. Wie weet, iemand gaan dalk een of ander tyd begin leer by hoofkantoor in Pretoria ?
Bulls suffered a late blow to their side after fullback Jurgen Visser was forced to withdraw from the team to take on the Waratahs in their Vodacom Super Rugby match in Sydney on Saturday.
Visser was initially cleared of his foot injury, but the problem flared up in the team’s captain’s practice on Friday, forcing the team to make a change.
Ulrich Beyers, who came off the bench to play at centre in the last two games, but is equally adept at fullback, will take Visser’s spot in the team and get his second Super Rugby start.
Ironically his only other start – his other six caps have been off the bench – was also against the Waratahs at fullback where he replaced Visser in last year’s corresponding fixture at Loftus Versfeld.
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