Bulls coach warns of stormy weather ahead
Wary Bulls coach Jake White has warned his team they can expect stormy weather ahead in an abrasive North v South rugby derby tomorrow.
The shrewd Bulls mentor expects the Stormers to come out with all guns blazing following their heartbreaking Rainbow Cup SA defeat to the Sharks last week.
At Loftus the Bulls scored three tries without reply in their 22-9 win over the Lions and White says his players will be targeted because of their success in previous tournaments.
“Now that the Stormers have lost, I think they are going to be fired up,” White said.
“North-South derbies are always tough anyway.
“Can you imagine on the rebound of what they went through [on Saturday] — a couple of red cards and an opportunity to win the game at the death?
“I can imagine they would maybe be hurting and that they’d want to do well.
“So, we will have a look at the combinations and see what we think is the best to go and obviously challenge the Stormers.
“They scored three tries against the Sharks and could have scored at the death there as well.
“Having played 40 minutes with 14 men, it’s not a bad return based on the fact that they had to play with less numbers for a long period of that game.”
White said he was satisfied with the fighting spirit shown by his team in the win over the Lions.
“Sometimes you’ve got to win those sorts of games,” he said.
“Credit to the Lions and I thought that they played with a lot of emotion.
“They were really good at the breakdown and obviously they were trying really hard to slow the ball down.
“If you imagine that, in the first half, we had 21 minutes of ball-in-play and our average in the Currie Cup was 27 minutes for the whole game.
“So, we literally played almost a whole game of rugby in the first half, which just showed how difficult it was for us.
“But yes, a win’s a win. “There were a couple of times there where we could have maybe taken those opportunities.
“When you play at this level you’ve got to find ways to win, and I’m proud that at least we found a way to win the game.
“I told the players now, every team will come for us.
“If you win trophies, then everybody wants to beat you.
“We had to work to pull that game through.”
White has adjusted his match day squad slightly as they prepare to travel to the Cape.
Headlining the changes is the return of Springbok No 8 and captain Duane Vermeulen.
He will resume the captaincy from fellow Springbok Nizaam Carr with Carr dropping to the bench, from where he will be looking to undoubtedly provide a crucial impact when called upon.
The backs have been adjusted slightly with a direct exchange as James Verity-Amm and Chris Smith switch out for David Kriel and Morné Steyn respectively.
The heavy men up front only see one other change, outside of the return of Vermeulen, with Walt Steenkamp starting in the No 4 jumper as Janko
Swanepoel shifts to the bench.
Stormers coach John Dobson was left to rue disciplinary indiscretions when his team slumped to defeat against the Sharks.
“I think we were unlucky to lose it, but we know why we did and it’s our own fault,’ Dobson said.
The Stormers will be without rising star Kade Wolhuter, who impressed at flyhalf before leaving the field with a knee injury against the Sharks.
Wolhuter took a bad knock in the second half and was replaced by Abner van Reenen.
Tomorrow’s other Rainbow Cup match pits the Sharks against the Lions in Durban.