Bulls hope for change of luck

The Blue Bulls and the Golden Lions will not only be playing for the Jukskei derby bragging rights, but also to stay in the Currie Cup semifinal placings when they meet at Loftus Versfeld tonight.

The Lions, who have a game in hand, currently occupy fourth place, a point ahead of the Bulls, and the match is certainly a crucial one for the home side if they don’t want to join the also-rans in the competition.

“Unfortunately we’ve lost two away games so playing back at Loftus Versfeld, it’s going to be very important to win, otherwise we’ll go into the last three rounds relying on permutations, which I don’t like. The Lions are a good side, they can punish you by 30 or 40 points if you’re not at your best,” Bulls coach Nollis Marais said.

“They’ve bounced back from losing to Griquas and if you give them opportunity, they will score. So it’s going to be a big test for us, we need to prove our character. I’m not satisfied with where we are at the moment, I want to be top of the table and making sure we decide where our semifinal is.”

The return of Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Courtnall Skosan and Ross Cronje to the Lions’ backline, as well as the selection of the explosive Kwagga Smith (below) at flank, merely add to the threat they will pose with ball in hand.

The Bulls have lost the indefatigable work-rate of blindside flank Jannes Kirsten to a shoulder injury, but the battle of the loose trios should be one of the highlights with Hanro Liebenberg, Arno Botha and Ruan Steenkamp, who all captained the Junior Springboks, coming up against Smith, Ruan Ackermann and Cyle Brink.

While the Bulls are still trying to execute a more ball-in-hand game plan, the Lions are way more settled with that style of play. So much so that it seldom looks like a risk for them to spread the ball wide, whereas the Bulls are still making plenty of mistakes when they try to be expansive.