Pretoria - The Bulls will get their first taste of what stands ahead of them in Super Rugby this year when they take on the Chiefs in a pre-season friendly in Brisbane on Thursday.
It will be coach Nollis Marais and his young side’s maiden encounter against a New Zealand franchise after they played against Australian franchise last year.
For the Bulls, they could not have asked for better opposition in their preparation as the Chiefs made the Super Rugby semi-finals last season.
However, besides getting a glimpse into the future, Marais has given the closest indication of how his starting team will look like ahead of their opening game against the Stormers in Cape Town at the end of the month.
Springbok utility back Jesse Kriel’s move from centre to fullback will likely be for the rest of the season and will signal his intentions to the national selectors to have a look at him as a permanent solution to the uncertainty around the Springbok fullback position.
While Kriel might be the frontrunner to becoming the Bulls No 1 fullback, he will face stiff competition from the young and dynamic Junior Bok Warrick Gelant, who is also seen as the national team’s long term solution in that position.
Gelant, though, will start Thursday’s game from the bench and he will also be seen as cover at centre, if required, but Marais will feel that he is on the fortunate side of things with two quality fullbacks at his disposal.
Another interesting pairing in the Bulls starting XV that will surely excite the national selectors, will be Springbok Lood de Jager’s second row partnership with RG Snyman.
Many are hopeful that De Jager’s move from Bloemfontein to Pretoria will help rekindle the form that made him SA Rugby Player of the Year two seasons ago and that it will aid the fast growing figure that Snyman is becoming in SA rugby.
De Jager’s presence in the Bulls starting line-up will not only help his cause in regaining his starting berth in the Springbok team ahead of the series against France in June but it could be favourable in justifying why his marriage with Snyman should be the preferred one to that of Stormers and incumbent Springbok locks Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit.
Another Springbok who will be looking at making an impression will be Trevor Nyakane. He has now made the permanent move from loosehead to tighthead prop and while his primary goal will be to nail down a place as the Bulls preferred No 3, he will also have his eyes firmly set on the same vacancy in the Springbok team.
Former Springbok flank Jacques Potgieter will make his first appearance for the Bulls since signing with them midway through last year from the Sharks and even though it will be a friendly, he too will be desperate to do the right things to make Marais happy.
Marais will also have an opportunity to see how his midfield pairing fare, with Burger Odendaal - lining up next to Jamba Ulengo - coming in due to the absence of Springbok centre Jan Serfontein, who is still recovering from injury.
“We don’t have much time left in the pre-season, so it will be important for certain combinations to work well in this match,” Marais said.
“The Chiefs are a formidable team and this will be an important match to see where we are at this early in the season.”
BULLS STARTING XV:
Jesse Kriel, Travis Ismaiel, Dries Swanepoel, Burger Odendaal, Jamba Ulengo, Handre Pollard (capt), Rudy Paige, Hanro Liebenberg, Jacques Potgieter, Nic de Jager, Lood de Jager, RG Snyman, Trevor Nyakane, Jaco Visagie, Pierre Schoeman; REPLACEMENTS:
Edgar Maruthlule, Lizo Gqoboka, Jason Jenkins, Ruan Steenkamp, Piet van Zyl, Tian Schoeman, Warrick Gelant, John-Roy Jenkinson, Jacobie Adriaanse, Renaldo Bothma, Francois Brummer, JT Jackson