Ackermann's message to Bulls star Cheswill Jooste after Champions Cup hat-trick
REACTION: Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann has praised the progress 20-year-old Cheswill Jooste has made since stepping up to senior rugby.
Jooste is one of South Africa’s most exciting young prospects and has enjoyed a rapid rise over the past 18 months.
He made his Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) debut last season against the Ospreys and scored a brace to help the Bulls win 53-40.
In the same year, Jooste lifted the U20 World Rugby Championship title with the Junior Boks before helping the team defend it in Georgia this past July.
The Vredenburg-born speedster is also on the Springboks’ radar, having been invited to an alignment camp earlier this year and trained with the side.
After recovering from a hamstring injury which he suffered in May, Jooste has hit a rich vein of form and is starting to earn regular game time for the Bulls this season.
After scoring against the Lions in the URC a week ago, Jooste backed that performance up with a hat-trick against Stade Français in the opening round of the Investec Champions Cup at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Ackermann was full of praise for the youngster but also emphasised the team’s contribution.
“Like I said last week when we highlighted Cameron [Hanekom], I said it’s a team performance,” he remarked.
“A lot of players do stuff to put that player in that position, but obviously Cheswill showed his individual ability in that kick-off try.”
After scoring in the opening minute of the game, Jooste was heavily involved thereafter and played the full 80 minutes.
He competed well in the air, looked electric every time he got the ball, and posed numerous threats in attack for the visiting French outfit.
He ended the match with 11 carries, 206 metres made, six clean breaks and two offloads.
He was also named man of the match, making the performance even more satisfying for Ackermann given that Jooste had been sick earlier in the week.
“I’m proud of his performance,” Ackermann added.
“I’m pleased for him also because he was sick on Monday and Tuesday, and he didn’t train with us.
“He got in on Thursday and got through training, and we selected him. He backed it up with a good performance.”
While the youngster had a good game, Ackermann believes there’s still plenty of room to improve. He has urged him to stay grounded.
“The challenge now is to stay humble and to learn and to grow from that.
“There were opportunities; there are areas where we felt he could’ve made some good decisions.
“But we’re just pleased with where he is from a confidence point of view and how he’s grown since he started to play senior rugby.”
A hat-trick to complete his Player of the Match performance 🐂🔵
Cheswill Jooste put on a show in Pretoria 🔥
#InvestecChampionsCup | #SSRugby https://t.co/QEISijxtJE
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) October 17, 2026
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