Bulls v Blues
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Vodacom Bulls head coach, Pote Human, has selected a relatively unchanged team with Wian Vosloo the only new face in the starting lineup. He takes over the no.7 jumper from Abongile Nonkontwana.
The bench sees two changes with Corniel Els and Ruan Steenkamp making their first appearances this season. Els replaces the injured Johan Grobbelaar while Steenkamp takes Vosloo’s place on the bench.
The men from Pretoria will be feeling the pressure as they are yet to register a win in 2020 but will take confidence in their ability as a unit and the fact that out of the nine matches played against the Blues at Loftus Versfeld, they have won six and drawn one.A record the Vodacom Bulls would like to keep in the positive according to Human.
“We know that we need to win and have done our homework against the Blues with the added bonus of a bye week assisting us. They remain a threat as always but if we can starve them of the ball and make our opportunities stick then that should be enough to secure a valuable win.”
Vodacom Bulls: 15. Warrick Gelant, 14. Cornal Hendricks, 13. Johnny Kotze, 12. Burger Odendaal (C), 11. Rosko Specman, 10. Morné Steyn, 9. Ivan van Zyl, 8. Josh Strauss, 7. Wian Vosloo, 6. Jeandré Rudolph, 5. Juandré Kruger, 4. Andries Ferreira, 3. Trevor Nyakane, 2. Jaco Visagie, 1. Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16. Corniel Els, 17. Gerhard Steenekamp, 18. Wiehahn Herbst, 19. Ruan Nortje, 20. Ruan Steenkamp, 21. Embrose Papier, 22. Manie Libbok, 23. Divan Rossouw.
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Blues team to play the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld at 4.15am on Sunday is: 15. Stephen Perofeta, 14. Emoni Narawa, 13. Joe Marchant, 12. Harry Plummer, 11. Mark Telea, 10. Otere Black, 9. Jonathan Ruru, 8. Hoskins Sotutu, 7. Tony Lamborn, 6. Tom Robinson, 5. Jacob Pierce, 4. Patrick Tuipulotu ©, 3. Sione Mafileo, 2. James Parsons, 1. Karl Tu'inukuafe.
Reserves: 16. Kurt Eklund, 17. Ezekiel Lindenmuth, 18. Ofa Tuungafasi, 19. Aaron Carroll, 20. Dalton Papalii, 21. Sam Nock, 22. TJ Faiane, 23. Matt Duffie.
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@KiwiMurph Haven't seen much of him. Any comment on how he plays, etc?
Always keen to see good locks come through
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@Machpants taking the AB blueprint a step further!
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@nzzp said in Bulls v Blues:
@KiwiMurph Haven't seen much of him. Any comment on how he plays, etc?
Always keen to see good locks come through
I thought Pierce had a strong NPC. I wanted him to be given the first chance alongside Tuipulotu this year
He used to be bean pole 2.02m and not very heavy. He's packed on some weight and his workrate is still good
Early days in his career but he's a very promising prospect
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@booboo said in Bulls v Blues:
19 Aaron Carroll,
Who?
BOP lock can't say I remember much of him during the NPC
He was added to the squad when Wardlaw had to withdraw. So he was initially outside the group of locks in NZ with a SR contract
So basically he's on the bench because of Goodhue, Tucker & Wardlaw injuries and the Blues wanted 4 locks for this match
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@taniwharugby said in Bulls v Blues:
@Machpants taking the AB blueprint a step further!
Yes, but in order for them to be triple play makers, they all actually need to be, well, play makers.
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@Machpants said in Bulls v Blues:
All three tens on the field, interesting
Two tens and Perofeta
Perofeta is a fullback.
I have a suspicion that Plummer will become a 12. He's a lot bigger than most 10's and he looks comfortable in his brief cameos at 12
(also I have a theory that real 2nd fives are about to make a return to NZ rugby)
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MacDonald on Plummer
Harry has played a lot at 12, especially through the age-groups. More recently he's been a 10, but he's a big, strong guy and I think he suits 12. He's quite physical in the way he carries and his breakdown work.
Rieko will be back in the Stormers match
MacDonald confirmed All Blacks wing Rieko Ioane, who was part of the touring party, was not available for the Bulls match. He said the plan had always been to re-introduce him from his hand fracture for the second match against the Stormers -
Yeah as much as I dont rate these 3 players as 10s and dont really like the idea of all 3 of them being on the field at once, if hes going with that approach then Black at 10 and Plumber at 12 isn't too bad. Keeps perofeta out of the way.
Who's kicking goals?
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@Snowy said in Bulls v Blues:
Black would probably have more chance of getting it in the vicinity of the posts than the other two have recently.
Plummer is 3/4 this year. That was his success %age for Auckland last year too
He's been kicking well in the warmups. His technical issues from last SR season where the ball would die mid flight appear to be behind him
Perofeta has been awful
I expect Black to be the kicker though
