VIDEO: 'Rested' Bulls ready to charge into the play-offs
It will be a ‘well-rested’ Bulls awaiting the arrival of Cardiff for a United Rugby Championship Round 17 face-off at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The tournament resumes with its penultimate round of league action after a European-enforced bye week, in which no South African teams took part.
Springbok Marco van Staden believes the third-placed Bulls are well-placed ahead in the run-in to the play-offs.
The men from Pretoria have shown some impressive recent form, with victories on the road over Munster (16-13) and Glasgow Warriors (26-10), following the 28-34 loss to Edinburgh in the Challenge Cup quarterfinal.
Before that, they also beat Leinster and Zebre at Loftus.
Their last URC loss was the 16-19 reverse against the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld more than two months ago.
However, as always, last week’s bye (with no South African team in the European semifinals) has the risk of breaking that momentum.
(WATCH as Springbok Marco van Staden explains their approach to the Bulls run-in to the URC play-offs…..)
“No,” was the 29-year-old Van Staden’s bold answer to the question, adding: “The rest was very good for us.
“We had a very good tour,” he said of a month-long European safari that included Challenge Cup encounters with Aviron Bayonnais (a first-ever win at the French club) and the loss to Edinburgh, before the back-to-back URC wins.
“It was a very tough tour.
“We had two big games in succession, Munster and Glasgow, so the break was very good for us.
“It allowed us to rest our bodies a bit.”
He described Saturday’s Round 17 face-off with Cardiff at Loftus as ‘another big game’ in the run-up to the URC play-offs.
Van Staden said the possibility of overtaking Glasgow in the standings and securing an important Top Two finish is not factoring into their game at the moment.
“We are just focusing on our process and the aspects of our game that worked well. If we do that, the five-pointers [bonus-point wins] in both games will come.
“It will not be easy, and we first have to secure the win before we think about the five [bonus] points.
“That is why we are focusing on the aspects we do well, because there are a lot of improvements we can make from the Munster and Glasgow games.”
He said there are some ‘small parts’ of their game that require the most attention in the build-up to the play-offs.
“It is things like using the opportunities we create.”
Van Staden played the last of his 25 Tests as a replacement against Wales at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in November.
He started at No.8 in the win over Glasgow last month.
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