Super Rugby centurion Adriaan Strauss leads a rather young Bulls team to Cape Town for this weekend’s tournament opener against the Stormers. Front row mates Marcell van der Merwe and Trevor Naykane are no strangers to rugby at this level, with Bjorn Basson the only veteran in a very young backline.
Grant Hattingh earns a 49th cap in the second row, but has three debutants around him in the scrum; RG Snyman (lock) and flanks Nic de Jager and Jannes Kirsten are all new to this stage, while number 8 Arno Botha has 30-odd caps to his name.
Bok Rudy Paige is paired with Francois Brummer, while Basson will have a duo of Bok centres in Jan Serfontein and Jesse Kriel with hi in the three-quarter line. The other wing, Travis Osmaiel, has just six caps to his credit and fullback Warrick Gelant, none.
Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nic de Jager, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss (capt), 1 Trevor Nyakane
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Burger Odendaal
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Only comment is… poor Schoeman. Been 2nd at bulls for 3 seasons and still cant crack the flyhalf nod… should call Pat and have a chat… some special boys those bull flyhalf brotherhood
@ebenp (Comment 1) : and to play second fiddle to the highly average Brummer is very worrying indeed.
@robdylan (Comment 2) : I thought Schoeman was really good for them in the CC, and would have given him a shot since Pollard is out, but they will through him to the wolves in a crunch match
@Henkb (Comment 3) : me too. Hairstyle aside, he’s a decent prospect
@robdylan (Comment 4) : I would tend to agree. Brummer can be good but can also be very very average
Where is Hanro Liebenberg?
Is he out injured?
@ChrisS (Comment 6) : who now?
@ChrisS (Comment 6) : @robdylan (Comment 7) : Former Bok u20 cpt. And yeh i think he got injured during a warm up game
@robdylan (Comment 7) : Wian Liebenberg’s brother. He played eighthman a few times last year for the Bulls.
Big, blonde kid.
@SheldonK (Comment 8) : Thanks.
What can you tell me about Nic de Jager and Jannes Kirsten?
@ChrisS (Comment 10) : Very little im afraid. They didnt pick up on my radar at all really. Have snuck through the Bulls youth structures…big tough boys is all i can offer
Wow. Compare the Stormers’itinerary to the Sharks. Like night and day. You can have the Rebels, Force, Brumbies and Reds this year and how about we give you the Crusaders, Chiefs, Highlanders and Hurricanes? How is this a fair tournament?
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 12) : simple thing is, it’s not fair.
But compare our itinerary to the Jaguares and we actually don’t look too bad. And they are our major competition. Well, them and the Lions.
Bitnof a mixed bag as there’s a couple of players that I don’t know?!?! Let’s see how they go against the fish heads!?!?!
@robdylan (Comment 13) : jeez that just makes this comp even more of a farce. How long are we locked in to this format?
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 15) : until they can think of a shitter format!!!!
@Kiss_the_Gold (Comment 15) : not sure bud. A good few seasons, I reckon
@JD (Comment 16) : Which is next year if their record of consistency holds…
@robdylan (Comment 13) : Well I’m just a conspiracy theorist who believes that the sharks pose the greatest threat to aus and nz franchises so they wangled it so we end up in the worst schedule with toughest competition on order to limit our chances of success.
@coolfusion (Comment 19) : But that’s probably just me thinking this way….
@coolfusion (Comment 18) : nope they will milk it for the next couple of years!!!
@coolfusion (Comment 19) : that might just work in favour of the Sharks as we all know the Sharks are at their best when they should have no chance!!!!
@robdylan (Comment 2) : That’s what I was thinking…
Rob, in the article you refer to RG Jenkins, but in the team sheet it’s RG Snyman at lock and Jason Jenkins as reserve. Just saying. Not up to date with THEIR players, so would not know where what fits in ????
@JustPlainSHARK (Comment 24) : No, that’s my fault. I got confused. Will update the article.