Bulls to rush their Boks back
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke will be able to call on a host of returning Springboks when they face the Sharks in a Super Rugby crunch match in Durban on Saturday.
Boks Adriaan Strauss, Jan Serfontein and Handré Pollard are all fit again and will be considered for the trip to Kings Park.
According to Bulls team doctor Org Strauss all three are ready to travel to Durban.
They will be joined by star flank Pieter Labuschagne, who has recovered from his shoulder injury that kept him out of action for the recent matches against the Crusaders, Lions and Reds.
Strauss was rested against the Reds as per the SARU agreement.
Serfontein last played against the Force in Pretoria on March 21 and Pollard against the Crusaders at Loftus Versfeld a week later.
A number of players, Jacques-Louis Potgieter (hamstring), Marcel van der Merwe (ankle), Burger Odendaal (contusion), Bjorn Basson (ankle) and Morné Mellett (back spasm) did not train on Monday.
However, they will all be back on Tuesday according to the team doctor.
Veteran wing Akona Ndungane has also recovered from a fractured hand.
Victor Matfield (knee, returning in two to three weeks), Travis Ismaiel (ribs, April 20) and William Small-Smith (foot, April 20) will return before month's end.
Pierre Schoeman, Bandise Maku, Carlo Engelbrecht, Werner Kruger, Duncan Matthews, Ruan Steenkamp and Ryan Nell are all still on the long-term injury list.
The return of Strauss, Serfontein, Pollard and Labuschagne will leave Ludeke with some pleasant headaches.
Another Bok, Flip van der Merwe, will also be contesting a starting spot after making his comeback from injury off the bench against the Reds last week.
It will see the Bulls field a very powerful team against a desperate Sharks outfit that will be without a number of suspended Boks – Bismarck du Plessis, Jean Deysel and Frans Steyn.
