Bulls brace for Leinster backlash in Loftus showdown

The Vodacom Bulls are geared up for a Leinster backlash in their Vodacom United Championship match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The URC champions were blanked 35-0 by the Stormers last weekend, a sensational result and the first time in 17 years that they had been kept scoreless in a league fixture.

With 13 internationals in the Irish team’s starting line-up, they know what it takes to win, and have the personnel to turn things around.

The Vodacom Bulls know this too, so there will be no resting on their laurels after last weekend’s outstanding opener against the Ospreys. Unfortunately, fate has played its bad hand, relegating two of the best performers – Cheswill Jooste and Jan Serfontein – to the sidelines with injury. Stravino Jacobs and Harold Vorster step up, both more than capable and experienced to produce the goods on Saturday evening.

Coach Johan Ackermann spoke about the need for greater fluidity after last week, but took great heart from the setpieces and fierce competition at the breakdown. Leinster will present an altogether different challenge, bringing organisation, pace and authority to these same areas.

Of course, talk in the air is of a rematch of the VURC final, but there’s been little such mention at HQ in Pretoria. So much has changed since that match, not least the installation of a new coach and a re-worked style, that June’s result will have little bearing on what transpires this weekend.
Strong reliance will be placed on the shoulders of the five Springboks in the hosts’ starting 15, but they also have enough flair and firepower elsewhere to ensure Leinster will have little easy this weekend.
It’s vital that the Vodacom Bulls come away with some reward. A three-match tour of Ireland and Scotland looms. Any points in the bag before then could make the world of difference.