The Vodacom Bulls received a scare as they returned to training when their Springbok and vice-captain Fourie du Preez hobbled off the field with a sprained ankle in Monday’s training session.
Du Preez was training with his teammates when he stepped on an uneven part of the training pitch, and immediately went down.
He was withdrawn from training and hobbled off the field, but was at least spared the pain of having to miss this weekend’s match against the Highlanders when the injury was diagnosed.
Du Preez spent the rest of the day off his feet and should be ready to train with his teammates this week still, with caution being the watchword when it comes to the Bulls playmaker.
There was further good news for the Bulls when Pierre Spies was declared fit from the back strain that forced him to miss the Waratahs game. The Springbok No 8 will be ready to take his place at the back of the scrum this weekend.
The Bulls were further boosted by news that two of their injured threesome, Springboks Akona Ndungane and Chiliboy Ralepelle, are almost over their injuries and can return to action next week. Whether they will be risked against a team like the Hurricanes is still to be seen, but it is likely they will first go through some Vodacom Cup action to ensure they are ready for the Bulls’ tour which starts a few days later.
The only bad news was that Jaco Pretorius will be out for another two weeks after his injury turned out to be worse than expected. This does at least give promising youngster Stephan Dippenaar an extended run at outside centre, which can only increase the Bulls’ depth.
Spies…a back strain????
Thought it was his knee… ❓
Bakkies will still miss the Bulls Tour to Anzac… and last season I would have been preturbed, but in Flip van der Merwe the Bulls have found an able replacement for Bakkies.
Akona and Chilli MUST work their way back into contention via the Vodacom Cup squad, they have been out of the system for very long.
2 – gbs
Amen !!!
Let us hope sanity prevail.
Now for some Hokaai insanity:
It would not be a problem to let Hougaard play a game at scrummie against a relative weak Highlander side. This will ensure he keeps his scrummie skills honed for when we really need him.
I would give FdP a proper rest. Heinie Adams can cover on the bench and this will give another one of our wings a run as well.
4 – Hokaai, Agree there. Bulls should rather let FdP rest this one and play Adams or Hougaard. Don’t risk FdP. Bulls need him for the Canes and the way tour.
Hi all. Gbs.just remember Flip may be solid but there is only Enforcer.any team would miss him terribly,lets hope the great man comes back angrier than ever. My favourite comment from him was when he was quoted saying that his body is aching for contact 🙂
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