Johannesburg - Bulls head coach Jake White has made a handful of changes to the starting XV that beat Munster last weekend as he endeavours to continue building momentum in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
Indeed, White has also juggled the mid-week composition of the Currie Cup matchday 23 that bested the Sharks 35-21 on Wednesday for the Scarlets match, opting to field – as he has vowed earlier this season – the strongest team he can select in both competitions.
As such, it will see several players participating in their third match of the week when they take the field on Friday at Loftus Versveld against Scarlets in a URC clash.
That includes the likes of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, and Walt Steenkamp in the starting XV; while Cornal Hendricks, Lionel Mapoe, Chris Smith, Morne Steyn, Elrich Louw, Arno Botha, Ruan Nortje, Jacques van Rooyen, Johan Grobbelaar and Gerhard Steenkamp will played some role in all three matches, whether in the starting team or off the bench.
In fact, only the starting scrumhalf position seems to have escaped the rotation policy, with Embrose Papier replaced midweek by Keagan Johannes, who drops down to the bench to make way for Zak Burger on Friday. Cyle Brink, meanwhile, did not play against Munster, but he did against the Sharks and he will again against the Scarlets.
Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee, meanwhile, is one of only a few players that did not play in all three matches.
“It is what it is,” White said at the team announcement on Thursday pragmatically.
“We only have 45 players in our squad. Some are injured and we are picking the best possible team that we can for the game that is coming up. We can’t plan too far ahead. We planned for yesterday last week; today we are planning for what happens tomorrow.”
In many respects, White selection is justified. The Bulls jumped into second in the Currie Cup with their victory over the Sharks on Wednesday night. In the URC, however, only their best will do as they try to take advantage of a Scarlets team that is still missing several of their Welsh internationals.
Whether fatigue will rear its head amongst the Bulls on Friday remains to be seen, but it is arguably a small sacrifice for the players to make this week and the next, as the Peoria-based outfit chase a Top 8 finish in the URC, and a treble of consecutive Currie Cup titles.
The Bulls are currently 10th in the URC standings, two points behind the Stormers in that all-important eight spot and four points behind SA's conference leading franchise the Sharks, who are in seventh.
Kick-off for the encounter against Scarlets is at 7pm.
Bulls Starting XV: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Cornal Hendricks, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Madosh Tambwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger; 8 Elright Louw, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Marcell Coetzee (capt), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenkamp; Replacements: Joe van Zyl, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Lionel Mapoe
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