Bulls load up on Boks for Galway grind

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White has made liberal use of his returning Springboks for the United Rugby Championship Round Seven encounter with Connacht in Galway on Saturday.

Marcel Coetzee will lead the third-placed Bulls in this challenging outing against the Irish province.

Boks returning from South Africa’s year-end tour include Canan Moodie and Willie le Roux in the starting XV, with Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, and Cameron Hanekom, playing off the bench.

White has also named Johan Goosen at flyhalf.

He has fully recovered from his injuries.

“Goosen hasn’t been involved in the opening rounds of the [URC] league, and to be fair, we have done well without him,” White said.

“However, training-wise, we have been training differently with him running at No.10.

The Bulls boss said the returning Boks were very keen to play.

“They also come from a really good tour with the national side,” he said, adding: “They had a really good year as the Springboks, surrounded by players who have been nominated as the best in the world – so that also influences how they arrive back with us and to have them keen to play for the club is nice to see.”

The challenge is that some of those Boks have been away from home for almost eight weeks.

“We make our selections to give ourselves the best chance possible to qualify for the play-offs in all the competitions we play in,”he added.

Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Mpilo Gumede, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 23 Stedman Gans.

Date: Saturday, November 30
Venue: Sportsground, Galway
Kick-Off: 17.30 (19.30 SA time; 17.30 GMT)
Referee: Mike Adamson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Jonny Erskine (Ireland), Paul Haycock (Ireland)
TMO: David Sutherland (Scotland)