Cape Town — Bulls coach Jake White says they are not “playing games” with Embrose Papier’s career, which is why the scrumhalf was left out of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash against Ulster at Loftus Versfeld (2pm kickoff).
There have been growing concerns regarding players getting concussion around the world, with one of the more high-profile cases in recent years being All Black star Beauden Barrett, who recently got yet another knock to his head after a prolonged absence from the game with previous cases.
Just a few weeks ago, Stormers lock David Meihuizen was forced to retire due to concerns about his future health following several cases of concussion as well.
The 24-year-old Papier missed the Bulls’ 57-12 victory over the Scarlets on March 18 following a knock to the head the previous week against Munster.
The Springbok halfback returned for last weekend’s 55-20 rout of the Dragons, but had to leave the pitch again, and will miss Saturday’s Ulster game, with Zak Burger starting at No 9.
“Embrose got another bang on the head, at the back-end of the (Dragons) game, on his jaw. He failed the HIA (head injury assessment) at the back-end of the game, and at this point in time, we’ve got to pass all the protocols before we can reselect him,” White said on Friday.
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“He’s back in that system to try and get through those concussion protocols, and hopefully he will be available next week.
“(As it’s his second concussion in a few weeks) That is why we don’t play games like that. To be fair, you don’t ever want to play down the importance of that. There is no way of measuring whether it’s a bad concussion or a slight concussion.
“The reality is that there are protocols in place. He did get concussed, he came back and then it was a crazy knock – he slipped, and one of the opposition player’s knees hit him on the jaw. He failed the HIA test.
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“At this point in time, it’s important for us to look after him. That’s why I said he is busy with whatever we need to do to make sure that when he does come back, everything is in place.
“It is a bit of a blow because I thought Embrose played really well (against the Dragons). I am hoping that next week (against the Stormers), he is available to play against Herschel Jantjies, who is also playing quite well. But as I said, you can’t control those things.”
Meanwhile, Ulster have recalled captain and lock Iain Henderson for the Bulls clash after he took a breather for last week’s Stormers game following the Six Nations campaign with Ireland.
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Former Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen has also been included at No 8.
* The Bulls’ campaign to fill up Loftus Versfeld with the allotted 25 000 fans is becoming a reality, according to White. The union slashed ticket prices to R25 for certain seats, going up to R150.
“It’s climbing, and we want to get to 25 000. Every day, it looks as though there is a massive amount of interest. I’m hoping tomorrow, a lot of the supporters will walk in and watch. We never know how many people decide on Saturday morning to go to Loftus to watch,” White said.
🚨 TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨
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YOUR Vodacom Bulls team to take on Ulster tomorrow at Loftus 💪
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“At this point in time, it looks as though we are reaching that mark. It would be wonderful to tell all our supporters from Limpopo to Groblersdal to Rustenburg to wherever they are to come through…
“It’s an afternoon game, it’s school holidays. It’s a massive game against Ulster, and hopefully it will be like the good old days, when people come out and support the team, and it becomes a good afternoon.”
Teams For Loftus Versfeld
Bulls: 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse 14 Canan Moodie 13 Cornal Hendricks 12 Harold Vorster 11 Madosh Tambwe 10 Chris Smith 9 Zak Burger 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Cyle Brink 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenkamp.
Bench: 16 Joe van Zyl 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Robert Hunt 19 Reinhardt Ludwig 20 Arno Botha 21 Keagan Johannes 22 Morné Steyn 23 Lionel Mapoe.
Ulster: 15 Mike Lowry 14 Ben Moxham 13 James Hume 12 Luke Marshall 11 Ethan McIlroy 10 Ian Madigan 9 Nathan Doak 8 Duane Vermeulen 7 Nick Timoney 6 Jordi Murphy 5 Iain Henderson (captain) 4 Kieran Treadwell 3 Marty Moore 2 Brad Roberts 1 Andrew Warwick.
Bench: 16 Tom Stewart 17 Eric O’Sullivan 18 Tom O’Toole 19 Mick Kearney 20 Matty Rea 21 John Cooney 22 Marcus Rea 23 Stewart Moore.
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