‘Bull terrier’ Wessels back and fired up
SPOTLIGHT: Jan-Hendrik Wessels will make his long-awaited return to the pitch following his nine-week suspension when the Bulls face the Sharks in their United Rugby Championship clash in Durban on Saturday.
The utility forward was controversially banned following an incident involving Connacht flank Josh Murphy during an October URC match which ruled him out of the Springboks’ end-of-year tour.
The Bulls will, however, be without Springbok trio Ruan Nortje, Marco van Staden, and Canan Moodie, who are being rested in line with Springbok protocols.
Ackermann also confirmed that Van Staden was not up for selection anyway, as he has picked up a knee injury against Bordeaux Bègles.
The coach was delighted to have Wessels back and explained his involvement with the team preparations over the last few weeks.
“It’s been great to have Jan [Wessels] back. You can see he is like a Bull Terrier; he just wants to get out and do some damage,” Ackermann told reporters on Friday, adding, “He has been training the last week or two, knowing that the date is getting closer.
“His biggest challenge now is that he hasn’t played for nine weeks, and because we had to prepare for games, we couldn’t always involve him with the preparation teams of 30 players.
“Otherwise, the player who must play wouldn’t get enough repetition.
“So he was in and out, and the times that he wasn’t in, he was working hard with the Strength and Conditioning coach.
“He is a quality player, so he will slot in easily, but obviously, the more he plays, the better his match fitness will get.
“But he is ready to go. He got stuck in the last two weeks and challenged the guys. So it’s great to have him back.”
The Bulls coach also revealed that winger Kurt-Lee Arendse has not completed his concussion protocols after getting injured in the Test match against Italy.
