No tinkering with the Bulls

The advent of the Currie Cup competition running concurrently with the United Rugby Championship (URC) has played a role, but Bulls coach Jake White was never going to change much for his team’s derby against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld tomorrow, given how thoroughly they outplayed their neighbours last weekend at Ellis Park.

With the Bulls also having a midweek Currie Cup game, there has been little cross-over between the two teams and the only change in personnel has been Cornal Hendricks replacing David Kriel on the bench.

Zak Burger (above) is now the starting scrumhalf with Embrose Papier coming off the bench.

It is a stark contrast to the Lions, who will bring a muchchanged team to Pretoria with half-a-dozen big names missing.

“I have confidence in these players, the team is strong enough to win if we play well,” White said yesterday.

“Victory is not a formality though, there are standards we have to meet and we have to make sure we play well again.

“The Lions will be different though and we expect they will play better. Their coach and captain has given them the gears and they have made several changes.

“We’ve had to field two teams this week, so circumstances have also played a part in us keeping the same group together. But I prefer our model, keep the combinations playing together so you get cohesion,” White said.

Beating the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld has been difficult for almost all visitors over the last couple of years, until the last fortnight, with the home side tasting defeat to the Stormers in the URC and Free State Cheetahs in the Currie Cup.

He will be hoping his team bring the same explosiveness they produced at Ellis Park last weekend to avoid another upset.