Springbok veteran Willie le Roux could line up at flyhalf for the Bulls against the Lions. Photo: AFP
How about Willie le Roux at flyhalf? That’s one of the options Bulls coach Jake White has placed on the table for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship derby against an in-form Lions outfit at Ellis Park (2.45pm start).
The Bulls emerged out of their dark hole of four consecutive defeats to knock over Stade Francais 48-7 at Loftus Versfeld to end their Champions Cup campaign on a high note, and qualify for the Challenge Cup round of 16 at least.
But while White will have to juggle his resources cleverly when that playoff comes around in early April, the immediate task is solving his flyhalf conundrum after Johan Goosen went off with a knee injury in the 27th minute against Stade Francais.
White explained that the extent of the 32-year-old’s latest blow to his body will only be fully revealed by a scan today, but that he will “definitely be out for a couple of weeks – there’s no doubt in my mind about that”.
His replacement against Stade, Boeta Chamberlain, ran the Bulls ship smoothly as they ended with seven tries, with the man himself scoring one too, along with two conversions and a penalty.
He has enjoyed some big moments in his Bulls career in recent months after a difficult start, and this could be the breakthrough that he has been waiting for to stake a proper claim to be the first-choice Bulls flyhalf against a Lions side who slayed the Dragons 60-10 at the weekend.
But Springbok veteran Le Roux – who was “on leave” for the Stade encounter – is set to return for the Lions clash, and with Devon Williams again making a considerable impact in the No 15 jersey at the weekend, he may hold onto his starting berth at Ellis Park.
“He (Goosen) will definitely be out for a couple of weeks – there’s no doubt in my mind about that. If you remember correctly, we won the four out of the first five games in the URC without him. We lost the game against the Scarlets that we could’ve won as well,” White said.
“I am comfortable with Jaco van der Walt, who has played international rugby. We’ve got Boeta... Willie can play 10.
“Whether we play Willie at 10, Jaco at 10, or whether we play Boeta at 10 – we’ve even got Keagan Johannes who has played 10 as well.
“I’m happy he (Chamberlain) came on and it was a bit seamless. He didn’t look out of his depth, and I’m really chuffed for him.”
White was relieved that his team could put the four-game losing run – against Saracens, Northampton, Sharks and Castres – behind them to achieve the stated goal of beating Stade by 22 points, with a four-try bonus and preventing the Parisian side from getting a bonus point to qualify for the Challenge Cup playoffs.
Star No 8 Cameron Hanekom was deservedly the Player of the Match – where he also scored a fine try, and told SuperSport TV in a post-match interview that “We want to fill up Loftus again, and bring the fans back to the stadium and make it alive again”.
Cameron Hanekom just doesn't have an off switch 😤🏉
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) January 18, 2025
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But the all-Springbok front row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw also absolutely hammered Stade in the scrums.
That allowed Hanekom and others such as Williams, Stedman Gans, Embrose Papier, Sergeal Petersen and co-captain Elrigh Louw to be prominent with ball-in-hand – while the other co-captain, Ruan Nortjé, made an excellent return to action from a hamstring injury.
There was a penalty try and touchdowns from Williams, Papier, Ruan Vermaak, Elrigh Louw, Chamberlain and Hanekom.
Papier ➡️ Williams ➡️ Gans ➡️ Petersen ➡️ Williams
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) January 18, 2025
It's starting to click for the Vodacom Bulls 🤌
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“I’m obviously very happy that we got that result, and the only thing I’m disappointed about is that it comes at the cost of an injury,” White said.
“But I’m very happy. I thought in the first 60 minutes, we were really good again.
“Last 20 was no-one’s fault. I thought we lost rhythm and lost a couple of lineouts, which put us under – I wouldn’t say pressure, but we didn’t get any rhythm.
“I’m just happy and proud that they managed the game the way they had to for the whole 80 minutes.”