Double boost for battered Bulls
The Bulls received a timely boost ahead of their Super Rugby crunch match with the Chiefs in Rotorua on Friday.
Scrumhalf Rudy Paige and wing Francois Hougaard have both been cleared to train with the team.
Paige suffered a knee ligament sprain midway through the second half of their 18-23 loss to the Blues in Auckland last Friday.
Hougaard suffered a quad contusion in the same match.
Irne Herbst and Piet van Zyl, who are both ruled out for the remainder of the season with knee injuries, head the long-term injury list.
Pierre Schoeman (knee), Bandise Maku (pectoral) and Ruan Steenkamp (knee) will all return on July 31 and Ryan Nell (knee) and Duncan Matthews (knee) on August 31.
The Bulls' hopes of making the play-offs suffered a major setback with the loss in Auckland.
While the Bulls stayed in the top three – after the losing bonus point saw them overtake the Stormers at the top of the South African conference – they face the Chiefs, Brumbies and Rebels on the remainder of their tour and points are going to be hard to come by.
"We made too many mistakes," captain Pierre Spies said, adding that the Bulls were determined to bounce back against the Chiefs.
