Bulls young guns sign on
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The Blue Bulls have moved to secure the next generation of young stars after the exodus of a number senior players at the conclusion of this year's Super Rugby.
The franchise's headline signing is fullback Jesse Kriel, who extended his Blue Bulls contract until October 2018.
They have also secured the signings of a number of current Junior Springboks in the form of RG Snyman, Hanro Liebenberg, Ivan van Zyl, Abongile Nonkontwana, Njabulo Gumede [all until October 2017] and Jason Jenkins until October 2018.
Warrick Gelant and Tinus de Beer are contracted until October 2016 and JT Jackson until October 2017.
"We are very pleased to have Jesse highlighting the huge number of younger squad players extending their contracts," said high performance manager Xander Janse Van Rensburg.
"There can be no doubt that we are continuously attracting the best talent in the country to Pretoria and it is very satisfying to see them wanting to stay on. This is a good indication that players are happy at the way they develop here and at the opportunities we provide to them to play at a very competitive level."
The signings comes in the wake of seven experienced players leaving Pretoria for overseas contracts. They included Pierre Spies, Jacques du Plessis, Flip van der Merwe, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Victor Matfield, Akona Ndungane and Francois Hougaard – all going to either French and Japanese clubs, or in some cases retirement.
There is no confirmed early release for Spies to go to Japan. He is still contracted until October 2015.
Record Currie Cup try scorer, Bjorn Basson, decided to execute his Japan option in his contract and will leave for the Far East shortly. He will be back for next year's Super Rugby season.
Meanwhile, new Blue Bulls head Nollis Marais named his squad for this year's Currie Cup, with a number of Springboks amongst the group that will try to win the coveted trophy for the first time in his tenure.
Marais named the likes of Jesse Kriel, Jan Serfontein, Handré Pollard, Rudy Paige, Victor Matfield, Marcel van der Merwe, Trevor Nyakane and Adriaan Strauss in his extended group, but most of them are likely to be involved with South Africa’s Lager Rugby Championship and World Cup campaigns and could see very little if any Currie Cup action.
Even in their absence, the squad is packed with proven players that have won the Currie Cup before, as well as a number of Springboks not part of national coach Heyneke Meyer’s squad for 2015.
"This is exciting times for us," said Marais.
"We have some of the best young players in the country who won national titles at Under-19 and U21 level and excelled for the Junior Springboks on the world stage. Coupled with that, we have some classy internationals available for this campaign and I am pretty confident that we will be a very competitive outfit this year.
"We are working very hard already. We are keen to get going and our two warm-up matches [EP Kings in Port Elizaberth on July 17 and Canon, Japan on July 31} will be very important in our preparations. We are an inexperienced squad in that we have not played much together as a team, but all of these players are true blue in attitude, commitment and passion, so we just need to execute a game plan to complement their talent."
The Blue Bulls Currie Cup management team has also been confirmed, with former Springbok and Bulls hooker Gary Botha joining the fray as technical consultant. The rest of the support staff are John-William Meyer [technical], Andre Volsteedt [strength and conditioning], Stephen Plummer [Rehab], Karabo Morokane [Physio], Pieter du Plessis [Physio], Elzanne van Coller [Masseuse], Dr Org Strauss [Team Doctor], Tim Dlulane [Team Manager], Elias Bennet [Kit Master].
Blue Bulls squad:
Forwards: Pierre Spies*, Hanro Liebenberg, Clyde Davids, Arno Botha, Jannes Kirsten, Deon Stegmann, Lappies Labuschagne, Roelof Smit, Ruan Steenkamp, Victor Matfield, Marvin Orie, RG Snyman, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Jacques du Plessis, Flip van der Merwe, Jason Jenkins, Irné Herbst (out injured until 2016), Dennis Visser, Marcel van der Merwe, Werner Kruger, Andrew Beerwinkel, Nqoba Mxoli, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Trevor Nyakane, Dean Greyling, Morné Mellett, Justin Forwood, Neethling Fouché, Pierre Schoeman, Adriaan Strauss, Bandise Maku, Jaco Visagie, Corniel Els, Callie Visagie.
Backs: Jesse Kriel, Jurgen Visser, Jacques Rossouw, Warrick Gelant, Riaan Britz, Ryan Nell, Travis Ismaiel, Kefentse Mahlo, Jamba Ulengo, Jade Stighling, Jan Serfontein, William Small-Smith, Dries Swanepoel, Daniel Kriel, Burger Odendaal, Handré Pollard, Tian Schoeman, Marais Schmidt, Louis Fouché, Rudy Paige, Francois Hougaard, Carlo Engelbrecht, André Warner, Ivan van Zyl, Piet van Zyl (out injured until 2016).
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