White opts for new halfback pairing
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Jake White, Director of Rugby at the Bulls, has made three changes to the starting line-up which includes a new halfback pairing for the United Rugby Championship encounter with the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.
Simphiwe Matanzima will start at loose-head prop, Bernard van der Linde comes in at scrum half and Chris Smith takes over the flyhalf duties from Johan Goosen, who moves into the fullback berth.
This will see Kurt-Lee Arendse don the number 11 jumper and on the opposite side of the field Canan Moodie runs out 14, in the place of Cornal Hendricks, who will partner in the midfield with Harold Vorster.
Hooker, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and utility back, David Kriel complete the list of new faces in the match-day 23.
White said Matanzima did not get enough game time last weekend and felt he earned another crack.
“A guy like Simphiwe, I felt after Saturday, I have not given him enough game time. I could see the frustration in his eyes that he did not have enough time to stamp his authority. He scrummed really well and I was probably conservative in giving the front row more time since they played so well. So, I felt I needed to give Simphiwe more time this week.
“This will be a good test for him, scrumming with Grobbies and Mornay and this will be a good test for him to see how he plays as a starter.
“He is a loosehead prop chomping at the bid to start and he is ready to give us a good game. Sometimes when you create competition at certain positions, you get different results out of each person.”
White said the fixture is not a do-or-die but an opportunity to register another good performance in the competition.
“We beat the Sharks at Loftus with a bonus point and if they win their match over the Stormers and we win tomorrow in Durban, we then jump up as favourites to win the conference, so there are a lot of permutations still ahead between now and the end of the competition.
“We are still in December, in a competition that runs until May and there is a lot of rugby to be played.
“Looking at their team, it is easy to see why they are the strongest provincial team in the competition,”
“We are going to play against nine Springboks, we did it in Cape Town last season against the SA’A side when nobody gave us a chance. Again, the uniqueness of this competition is that anybody can beat anybody, whether you are 11th on the log playing the top-ranked side, you can still get the result,”
“We are going there to give it our full go. We have to play the best rugby to give us the best possible opportunity to get into the playoffs and everybody knows that if you play good rugby in the final few weeks of the competition, you have a good chance at winning the tournament.
“Last time we played them we actually picked Smith and Goosen at 10 and 15 and the combination worked, we played reasonably well. Giving us two kickers and two passes, two kicking options which help us a lot. There is also a chance of rain tomorrow and that will suit us a bit with the two at fly half and full back.”
“Our selection is not a reaction to them but it is because it is a tactic that worked for us when we played them at home and we would like to see it work again from a combination of two guys who understand each other,”
“Sometimes you have to package things differently in order to get the best out of your players.”
White said Van der Linde had a good game against Lyon, which is why he gets another nod to man proceedings behind the scrum.
“It will be an interesting game because of the chance of rain and his ability to kick. He played well for us against Lyon and it will be good to see him in the field again for us.”
Bulls: 1 Simphiwe Matanzima, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 3 Mornay Smith, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 5 Ruan Nortje (captain), 6 Marco Van Staden, 7 Cyle Brink, 8 Elrigh Louw, 9 Bernard van der Linde, 10 Chris Smith, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12 Harold Vorster, 13 Cornal Hendricks, 14 Canan Moodie, 15 Johan Goosen
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Sebastian Lombard, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 David Kriel.
Date: Saturday, 31 December
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 14.45, 12.45 GMT
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa, Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
