Bulls call on the big men to get dominance up front

BULLS boss Nollis Marais has called on the heavy artillery to do battle with Western Province in the first Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld tomorrow evening.

Marais knows the importance of getting dominance up front, and to achieve this he’s opted for four locks in his match-day squad of 22, leaving out loose-forward Ruan Steenkamp, who was the back-up against the Pumas last weekend.

Starting for the Bulls in the second row will be young guns Marvin Orie (1.97m and 107kg) and fit-again Jacques du Plessis (2.01m and 117kg), and backing them up from the bench will be Jason Jenkins (2.01m and 121kg) and R G Snyman (2.06m and 117kg).

Jenkins will cover the loose forward positions should anything happen to one of the three starters, Arno Botha, Deon Stegmann and Lappies Labuschagne.

With Botha and Labuschagne solid line-out operators, hooker Bandise Maku will have more than enough men to find with his throwing in at the set piece. It’s an area in which the Bulls will look to dominate their opponents, who also have some formidable line-out men.

Ruan Botha and Jean Kleyn are the starting locks, with Chris van Zyl their back-up, while Rynhardt Elstadt, at flank, and Jurie van Vuuren, on the bench, will give as good as they get.

“This is what we trained for, to put ourselves in a position where we can win the Currie Cup,” Marais said yesterday when he named his team to play for the chance to take on either the Lions or Cheetahs in next week’s final.

“A semi-final is a difficult match. You play to win and survive, but it does not mean a trophy yet. You have to go and do it all over again a week later. But if you lose, your season is over. We are determined for that to not happen to us.”

The Bulls go into the game on the back of a solid season, winning eight of their 10 games and scoring 41 tries in the process. Western Province, who finished third, won seven times.

Bulls captain Labuschagne feels his team proved during the season that they are good enough to win and advance for a date with destiny next Saturday.

“We have won one match each in our clashes this year, but I believe we got enough out of those matches to feel that we can win this one,” said the flanker.

“Western Province are a very dangerous side, and have some of the best runners in the country in their team. That said, we also carry some big guns in our team, and that is why we are able to host this match in front of our fans. We will leave nothing out there, that is a guarantee.”

In their earlier meetings this season, the Bulls won 47-29 at Loftus Versfeld, while Western Province beat their opponents 29-14 at Newlands.

Tomorrow’s match kicks off at 7.10pm.