Bulls set-piece will be key area

Bulls lock Janko Swanepoel (below) says they will have to establish set-piece dominance if they are to overcome Ospreys in their United Rugby Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld tomorrow (kick-off at 3pm).

Ospreys stunned the Stormers last weekend in Cape Town, beating them 27-21 to claim a major scalp. The win was attributed to Ospreys’ strong set-piece play, particularly their scrums.

Their performance against the Stormers is being used by the Bulls to analyse them.

The Bulls are in desperate need of a win after back-to-back defeats to Leinster and Munster in the URC. The Pretoria-based outfit are currently in fourth place with 46 points on the URC points table.

However, Swanepoel knows their encounter against their Welsh visitors will not be a walk in the park.

“If you look at the Stormers game in the previous weekend, we definitely can’t underestimate them,” Swanepoel said.

The towering lock said their forward pack needs to be strong and set the tone early in the match.

“We need to try to dominate them in the set-piece, that will help us for this weekend,” Swanepoel added.

“I think their forwards are very direct, so our defence is going to be very important, as well as the mauling. I think their lineout and scrums are very good, so we as a pack need to prepare for the line-outs and the mauls.”

With the Bulls a bit thin on the leadership front, Swanepoel revealed that forwards coach Andries Bekker had given the locks added responsibilities in the absence of co-captain Ruan Nortje.

“Usually at the line-outs, as locks, we must take leadership, in training and matches.

“Coach Andries (Bekker) lets the locks do the talking a bit more and he tries to develop us as leaders.”