a rugby player prepares to kick the ball Chris Smith of the Bulls during the United Rugby Championship 2022/23 match between against Edinburgh at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, South Africa on 24 September 2022. Picture: Christiaan Kotze/BackpagePix
Cape Town - The Bulls have transformed their attack under Jake White, but may have to rein themselves in if the weather doesn’t play ball in Saturday night’s United Rugby Championship encounter against Glasgow (8.35pm SA time kickoff).
The Scotstoun Stadium design may derail the Bulls’ plans to continue with their ball-in-hand approach, and require halfbacks Zak Burger and Chris Smith – in for Johan Goosen, who White did not want to risk on a 4G pitch, as he sustained a serious knee injury on such a surface last season – to kick more than usual if the wind blows strongly.
“If the wind comes through that stadium, it is a massive factor in terms of the way you want to play,” White said from the Scottish city on Friday.
“And that means sometimes the wind is howling, and it’s very difficult to hold onto the ball or to try and play too much rugby when you’ve got a wind that’s helping you from behind.
“We’d like to play like that, but I’d like to see how the weather is tomorrow, and if the weather is very, very influential, we are going to have to play to the weather as well.
“That means we are going to sometimes have to kick a little bit more than keep the ball in hand. But kicking is also a skill, and kicking in terms of creating pressure and points is also a part of rugby, and it’s part of attack. So, let’s see tomorrow if we can get the balance right.”
A new-look back-three of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Cornal Hendricks and Stedman Gans are sure to be tested severely under the high ball as well.
“Sometimes teams like to get points ahead with the wind behind them, and others like to hold on and then play the second half with the wind and build some pressure,” White said.
“It’s a very open stadium, so if the wind comes in and you end up having to play against it at the back-end of the game – and you’re chasing the scoreboard, it becomes difficult.”
Apart from Smith in for Goosen at flyhalf, the other changes sees Hendricks and Gans at wing in place of the injured Canan Moodie and Sbu Nkosi, with Lionel Mapoe at outside centre for Hendricks.
Moodie is out for about eight weeks with a hamstring injury, while Nkosi is over his concussion and will rejoin the Bulls squad later this weekend ahead of next Saturday’s clash against Munster.
The other new face is Jan-Hendrik Wessels at hooker, with Johan Grobbelaar also expected to be out for eight weeks after undergoing an ankle operation this week.
A key factor in the Bulls’ bid for victory will be maintaining their discipline, after they conceded three yellow cards and numerous penalties in their 28-14 triumph over Connacht at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.
White said that there would be “no chance” of winning if they have a repeat against Glasgow away from home.
“I have been very hard on that and players have been hard on themselves as well. We went through the video session and spoke about opportunities that you don’t just give away, in terms of our discipline,” he said.
“We chatted to the URC as well about that game, and there were some calls that I thought could’ve gone the other way, or maybe could’ve been dealt with differently. But we must be a good-enough side to adapt if we want to be the Leinsters and Crusaders (in the URC).
“We had a lot of pressure last week defending with 13 men, and players changing into other positions. We don’t want to be leaders in giving cards away or penalties, which just makes it difficult for ourselves.”
Teams
Glasgow: 15 Josh McKay 14 Sebastian Cancelliere 13 Sione Tuipulotu (captain) 12 Sam Johnson 11 Cole Forbes 10 Tom Jordan 9 George Horne 8 Matt Fagerson 7 Thomas Gordon 6 Gregor Brown 5 Richie Gray 4 Scott Cummings 3 Zander Fagerson 2 Fraser Brown 1 Jamie Bhatti.
Replacements: 16 George Turner 17 Oli Kebble 18 Lucio Sordoni 19 JP du Preez 20 Sintu Manjezi 21 Ryan Wilson 22 Ali Price 23 Domingo Miotti.
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse 14 Cornal Hendricks 13 Lionel Mapoe 12 David Kriel 11 Stedman Gans 10 Chris Smith 9 Zak Burger 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Marco van Staden 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Francois Klopper 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Mornay Smith 19 Janko Swanepoel 20 Reinhardt Ludwig 21 Embrose Papier 22 Morné Steyn 23 Wandisile Simelane.
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