Bulls still a few cards shy of a poker hand for Ospreys clash
Bulls coach Johan Ackermann says fans might be a little surprised when they see the team that he will pick to face the Ospreys in their United Rugby Championship opener at Loftus Versfeld this weekend.
The Bulls kick off their URC campaign with home matches against the Ospreys and defending champions Leinster before touring Ireland (Ulster and Connacht) and Scotland (Glasgow).
The new Bulls coach faced reporters last week in the build-up to the URC and admitted that the side he will announce later this week will look very different from the one that lost the URC final to Leinster in June.
The Bulls will be without Springboks Canan Moodie, Handré Pollard, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortjé, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, and Wilco Louw.
At the same time, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Goosen, Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Vermaak, Akker van der Merwe, and Reinhardt Ludwig are also injured. Bok prop Gerhard Steenekamp is nearing a return after a long-term knee injury.
“I don’t want to give Ospreys any hope, hey, and I don’t know if they’re going to see it, but I don’t think we are 100 percent yet, to be honest with you,” he explained.
“And it’s not because of a lack of talent or [anything], we just had a challenging month and a bit that I’ve been here because, again, the synergy between us as coaches getting a feel for each other, and then getting to know the players.
“But the biggest challenge up until today [is], we’ve not been able to train with the starting XV because there are constantly players, unfortunately, missing training and picking up niggles or not really fully fit yet.
“So that is a bit of a concern, but in saying that, the players who are training are training very well, and we’re confident that we’ll have a team that will compete next week.”
Asked how he will navigate competing in two different competitions, the URC and EPCR (European Champions Cup), Ackermann said he wants to compete strongly on both fronts, but still needs to figure out exactly how he will do that.
“We will probably have our Springboks back for only three weeks before the first European game, because they finish against Argentina when we go on tour,” he explained.
“So they’re technically only available for Ulster, Connacht, and Glasgow, and then away in November, and then they’re back the Monday before Bordeaux.
“So if we want to go for both competitions, we’re going to rely on everybody, firstly, to be fully fit and, secondly, be fully committed to that, and that’s why in theory we want to go for both, but we’ll only know come the end of November where we are from a planning point of view.”
Ackermann also confirmed that veteran loose forward Marcell Coetzee will captain the Bulls in Springbok lock Ruan Nortjé’s absence.
“We are privileged to have many leaders in the group, but Marcell is a logical choice. The guys have great respect for him and the way he trains and lives our values. Ruan is our captain for the season, but if he’s not here, Marcell will lead the team.”
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