Mitchell ready to shuffle pack
JENKINS: BULLS HOLD BREATH ON FLANKER’S FITNESS
Men in blue haven’t won at Newlands since 2011.
There is certain to be at least one change to the Bulls’ starting line-up for their Super Rugby clash with the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday, but coach John Mitchell said yesterday that the fitness of Jason Jenkins will determine whether he has to also shuffle his back row.
The definite change comes at scrumhalf where Andre Warner starts in a rotational switch with Ivan van Zyl, but if Jenkins fails to recover in time from his undisclosed “knock” (Mitchell said he did not want to give the Stormers something to target), then Thembelani Bholi will shift from eighthman to blindside flank, Marco van Staden moves from openside to the back of the scrum and Roelof Smit will return in the No 6 jersey.
There are a couple of other injury concerns too, with wing Divan Rossouw not certain to play and bracketed with Travis Ismaiel, and Nqobisiwe Mxoli standing by to be the replacement loosehead if Frans van Wyk is not fit.
The last time the Bulls played away from home – three weeks ago against the Sharks in Durban – they registered a comprehensive 40-10 victory and that is something that will give them confidence that they can break a sixgame Super Rugby losing streak at Newlands, dating back to 2011.
“It’s certainly a positive that we won so well in Durban, but it’s about getting it right on the day and just trying to get better each match. Every game counts now, so it’s one race at a time. The Stormers will be a different contest altogether.
“It will come down to who can exploit the opportunities and I think the weather will be kind to us on Saturday. It will also be an emotive day because Siya Kolisi deserves to be congratulated for his 100th game and Damian de Allende has also been outstanding recently. There’s usually more passion and greater physicality in these derbies,” Mitchell said.
The coach said the strict training programme the Bulls are on mandated today being a day off for the side, which was why the team announcement was brought forward by a day.