WITH their Super Rugby title chances rudely put to bed by the Stormers last weekend, the Bulls have shifted their focus to the Currie Cup in their selections for their final game against the Melbourne Rebels.
Frans Ludeke has added Nico Janse van Rensburg and Jesse Kriel — two more players from the national under-20 side that lost the Junior World Championship final to England — to his match-day 23 for Friday night’s game at Loftus Versfeld.
The two, who will enter the fray as the reserve lock and utility back respectively, join Baby Boks captain and starting flyhalf Handre Pollard, whose meteoric rise this season was completed by a start for the Springboks in their last Test, against Scotland, a fortnight ago.
Janse van Rensburg, 20, is a 1.99m, 109kg lock who partnered well with Western Province’s JD Schickerling for an imposing second-row pairing for Dawie Theron’s Baby Boks.
Kriel, also 20 and another man-child at 1.86m and 95kg, can play fullback, centre and wing, and scored some crucial tries from outside centre during the Junior World Championships.
“It’s great to give our youngsters who have come through the system a taste of Super Rugby,” Ludeke said. “It’s a good way also to motivate the rest of the youngsters in the system so they know we’re looking at them and that talent will come through.”
Probably as eye-catching was the dramatic selection to the starting line-up for hooker Bandise Maku, and Bongi Mbonambi falling out of favour altogether.
The Bulls have reportedly been putting out fires at hooker, where both Maku and Mbonambi are said to have voiced their displeasure at playing second fiddle to Callie Visagie.
The upshot of Mbonambi’s unhappiness is that he has apparently told the powers that be at the union that he is leaving (probably to the Stormers).
This is said to have pushed the Bulls into a belated show of confidence in the similarly disenchanted Maku, who has cut a forlorn figure all season after returning to Loftus on the understanding that he would be the starting hooker, only to play Vodacom Cup rugby and a bit-part role in Super Rugby.
But Ludeke’s official version on leaving out Mbonambi and starting Maku was: “There are no final decisions on our hooker situation or on the possibility of recruiting somebody.
“This is more about Bandi also, he’s been working hard and pressing for an opportunity. He played well against Namibia away when he came on as an impact player.
“It’s also about his decision to come back here … it’s just that through the season Callie and Bongi played just well enough so there weren’t more opportunities for him.”
The decision to play Maku sees the Bulls field an all-new front row that features Morne Mellet and new Springbok tighthead Marcel van der Merwe as the props, which could be read as the Bulls selectors being a bit annoyed by Dean Greyling’s indiscretions.
Greyling, who lost the Boks a chance at winning in Dunedin in 2012 by incurring a yellow card for crassly trying to take out All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and knocking on with the tryline at his mercy, was at it again in the 16-0 loss to the Stormers. Having conceded three scrum penalties, he then conceded a reversed penalty for slapping the back of Deon Fourie’s head when he finally earned a scrum penalty.
Other changes to the starting line-up see 2013 South Africa Under-20 flanker Roelof Smit come in for the injured Grant Hatting, which necessitates a shift to the back of the scrum for Jacques Engelbrecht. Francois Hougaard starts at wing instead of scrumhalf (Akona Ndungane is injured).
It’s great to give our youngsters who have come through the system a taste of Super Rugby
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