Can Bulls cope with Stormers’ scrum power?

IT took over 23 minutes for the first scrum to take place in the Rainbow Cup South Africa clash between the Bulls and Lions at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday night.

And while the first shove was completed without much fanfare, with the Bulls winning their own feed, the rest of the set-pieces were fierce battles between the Gauteng neighbours in the 22-9 victory for the Pretoria outfit last Saturday.

Veteran Lions tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis and Bulls No 1 Gerhard Steenekamp went hard at each other, with honours arguably even, while Sti Sithole won a penalty against Bulls tighthead Mornay Smith.

The real shake-up came when the powerful figure of Carlu Sadie replaced Du Plessis at half-time, as he drilled Steenekamp in his first scrum to win a penalty.

Sadie did the same to Springbok Lizo Gqoboka, who had come on for Steenekamp, but referee Rasta Rasivhenge had penalised Sithole for collapsing the scrum on the other side.

Gqoboka brought the heat in subsequent scrums too, and it was a fascinating contest in the final quarter between the two big men.

Now Bulls coach Jake White has a few tricky selection decisions to make in the front row for Saturday’s showdown with the Stormers at Cape Town Stadium.

Trevor Nyakane is available again after sitting out of last weekend’s encounter due to Springbok resting protocols ahead of the British & Irish Lions series, and he will be joined by captain Duane Vermeulen as well.

White said last week that he had deliberately picked a mobile team to take the fight to the Lions with ball-in-hand, and in that regard, both Steenekamp and Smith were industrious in the tight-loose – carrying the ball strongly, making tackles and cleaning-out rucks.

That is not to say Nyakane and Gqoboka are slouches in that department.

Both Boks enjoy a trundle around the park, but are undoubtedly stronger scrummagers than Steenekamp and Smith.

Now that the imposing Stormers trio of Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe are lying in wait at Cape Town Stadium, should White opt for physical strength or mobility in the front row?

“We had Jacques van Rooyen on the tighthead at the end there, and got a scrum penalty. I don’t think we scrummed as well as we could’ve throughout the game, but saying that, I am happy,” White said after the Lions match.

“We got three scrum penalties, and it’s going to be a massive test next week against Kitshoff, Malherbe, Neethling Fouche and Ali Vermaak.”

Mind you, the young Bulls pack were busy around the field too, with lock Janko Swanepoel enjoying his best outing in the blue jersey yet, while flanks Marco van Staden and Elrigh Louw got stuck in too.

It is set to be a titanic battle upfront at Cape Town Stadium, and while the Stormers also played with good attacking tempo in their 33-30 loss to the Sharks at the weekend, they will also be searching for physical dominance from their pack.

So, will the Bulls be able to handle the Stormers scrum? We’ll find out on Saturday night …