Big Bok boost for Super Bulls

 

The squad has six Springboks currently on tour with the national team in England and another 12 players who has represented the Springboks in the past.

 

It is also packed with a number of Junior Springboks and Springbok Sevens players.

 

These new faces to the squad include Duncan Matthews, Jesse Kriel, Warrick Gelant, Jamba Ulengo, Dries Swanepoel, Dan Kriel, Burger Odendaal,  Nardus van der Walt, Irne Herbst, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Arno van Wyk and Pierre Schoeman.

 

New signings Pieter Labuschagne, Trevor Nyakane and Adriaan Strauss (all from Cheetahs) are also in the group.

 

"I am very excited about this group. We have great depth in many crucial positions, so should be covered when injury strike," Ludeke said.

 

"The influx of youth excites me as these players have wonderful skills, particularly on attack.

 

"This will allow us a different approach in that department. A number of these youngsters has been exposed to senior rugby already and should hit the ground running in the Super Rugby competition.

 

"It was always part of the long term strategy for these youngsters to develop into Super Rugby players and I think we have managed that well.

 

“We have been working hard on a game plan and structure that will compliment the playing staff we have.”

 

The Bulls will play one warm-up match next year, with the opponents for the match on January 24, to be confirmed. 

 

The match is scheduled to be played in Polokwane.

 

The Vodacom Blue Bulls XV will also play an invitational match against Saracens in London on January 31.

 

Werner Kruger, Akona Ndungane and Duncan Matthews have all extended their contracts and will be available to play for the Bulls in the 2015 Super Rugby competition.

 

Former Springbok wing Ndungane extended his contract till the end of the 2015 Super Rugby competition, while prop Kruger, who made his Springbok debut in 2011, signed on till October 2016. 

 

Outside back Duncan Matthews, who represented the South African Under-20 side in 2014, will stay with the Pretoria franchise till at least October 2016.

 

Bulls High Performance Manager, Xander Janse van Rensburg, confirmed that the majority of the provisional Bulls squad for next year have signed up till the end of 2016.

 

"We had a long term plan with some of these younger players which started in 2012 already and it is great to see that they are now blossoming in our structures.

 

Added to some new signings for next season, I think the 2015 Super Rugby season could be an exciting one for our supporters," Janse van Rensburg said.

 

Bulls training squads:  Jesse Kriel, Duncan Matthews, Warrick Gelant, Jurgen Visser, Akona Ndungane, Travis Ismaiel, Bjorn Basson, Jamba Ulengo, JJ Engelbrecht, William Small-Smith, Dries Swanepoel, Jan Serfontein, Ulrich Beyers, Dan Kriel, Burger Odendaal, Handre Pollard, Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Tian Schoeman, Kobus Marais, Francois Hougaard, Piet van Zyl, Rudy Paige, Ivan van Zyl, Carlo Engelbrecht, Pierre Spies, Hanro Liebenberg, Arno Botha, Jacques du Plessis, Nardus van der Walt, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Jacques Engelbrecht, Deon Stegmann, Pieter Labuschagne, Roelof Smit, Victor Matfield, Grant Hattingh, Marvin Orie, RG Snyman, Flip van der Merwe, Irne Herbst, Jason Jenkins, Werner Kruger, Marcel van der Merwe, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Hencus van Wyk, Basil Short, Adriaan Strauss, Bandise Maku, Callie Visagie, Jaco Visagie, Arno van Wyk, Dean Greyling, Morne Mellett, Trevor Nyakane, Pierre Schoeman.