VIDEO: Bulls wary of Lyon's South African stepper
The Bulls are determined to continue the momentum they have built up in the last three weeks when they arrive at Matmut Stadium de Gerland on Saturday for a Round Two Champions Cup encounter with Lyon.
On the back of United Rugby Championship wins over Connacht and the Sharks, the Bulls dispatched Saracens in the opening Round of the European Cup.
Now they head abroad.
However, winning away from home in Europe suddenly does not appear to be such a daunting task – with the Cheetahs (33-15 over Zebra in Parma) and the Lions (28-12 over Perpignan at Stade Aime Giral) getting victories on the road.
Added to that Lyon has won just one of their last five matches – a 42-29 Top 14 home win over Aviron Bayonnais.
Last week they lost 34-36 to the Bears in Bristol.
However, the Bulls believe facing the struggling French club on their home turf might prove to be a far more challenging prospect.
In season one of South African participation in the Champions Cup the Bulls beat Lyon 42-36 in a high-scoring affair in Pretoria, before the French team took revenge in the return encounter – winning 31-7.
It is the latter result that will raise some alarm bells.
Burger also pointed to the fact that the Bulls will travel from their mid-summer weather (+30°C) to the winter weather of France (low single digits and windy) – an additional challenge.
(WATCH as Bulls scrumhalf Izak Burger speaks about the challenging trip to France for a Round Two Champions Cup encounter with Lyon…)
“There may be some travel challenges, but we must make the best of our opportunities,” he said.
The nuggety No.9 spoke about the privilege of travelling the world and playing the game, facing the best players in the world.
“They have a big set of forwards,” he spoke of the challenge awaiting them at Matmut Stadium de Gerland, adding that they have a few South Africans who are very familiar with the Bulls.
Former Bulls stalwart and Springbok Arno Botha did not play in the opening round of the competition.
A former South Africa Under-20 captain, he featured for the Springboks on two occasions in 2013.
However, it is the hot-stepping Lyon fullback Thaakir Abrahams, who joined from the Sharks earlier this year.
The 23-year-old Abrahams, despite his team’s loss to Bristol, scored two stunning tries – also making 79 metres from four caries, in which he made two linebreaks and beat seven defenders.
(Continue below …)
“They have some very exciting players and it is going to be a very good challenge for us in Lyon,” Burger said.
The past three weeks gave the Bulls some great momentum, but last Saturday’s Champions Cup win was put into perspective by the fact that in his stellar career, two-time World Cup-winning Springbok Willie le Roux has played numerous times against Saracens – yet this past weekend was the first time he played in a winning team against the English champions.
The same applied to veteran Akker van der Merwe, who played for four years in the Premiership, and last Saturday was his first victory against Saracens.
“We spoke about it after the game,” Burger said about the fact that players like Le Roux and Van der Merwe enjoyed their first-ever victories over Saracens.
@king365ed
@rugby365com
On another level ?? #BackTheBulls pic.twitter.com/ZwQq2stS8n
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) December 11, 2023
