Tightheads & Loose Balls

● Touring teams are often grumpy about having to spend time in Gauteng but the Waratahs this week adopted the “any port in a storm” attitude in the build-up to their clash against the Bulls.

To be honest, they were just happy to be away from home where teammate Israel Folau was due to have his future decided in a code of conduct hearing in Sydney. “It’s probably been a blessing being away,” said flyhalf Bernard Foley. “I know personally I haven’t been distracted by it. I actually haven’t been up to date with a lot of the stuff. It has been a good time for us to get away,” Foley was quoted saying on stuff.co.nz.

● No one can accuse former Springbok and Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer of not leaving his mark at Stade Francais. Former Stade winger Raphael Poulain was rather critical of Meyer, and it was not just for the team’s poor performances. Meyer has keenly recruited South Africans.

”Stade Francais does things backwards and is losing its DNA,” said Poulain about Stade, who before this weekend’s round of matches were ninth on the points table, a whopping 28 points off leaders Toulouse.

● Another man with strong connections to the Boks and the Bulls, lock Flip van der Merwe, made some comeback after serving his five-week ban for a high tackle.

Van der Merwe promptly announced he would be retiring at the end of the Top 14 season. “I’m going to stop at the end of the season, when your body tells you stop, you have to know how to listen to it and be honest,” said the 34-year-old.

● Coach Swys de Bruin returns to spearhead the Lions’ Super Rugby campaign on Monday following a couple of weeks off dealing with a stress-related illness. In a climate where his condition is often misunderstood we wish De Bruin well on the resumption of his duties.