Cape Town — The Bulls boast a star-studded backline for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash against Munster, and coach Jake White hopes it will bring the best out of new signing Wandisile Simelane.
The former star Lions centre has yet to find his feet in Pretoria, having first operated at fullback at the start of the season, and on Friday he was picked at wing for the Thomond Park encounter (8.35pm kick-off).
He has featured there for the Lions previously, but has yet to run out in his preferred No 13 jersey – mainly due to the solid form of Lionel Mapoe, who will pair up with another ex-Lions stalwart, Harold Vorster, in Limerick.
Simelane was part of the wider Springbok training group last year, but has fallen out of the national reckoning at the moment, with Lukhanyo Am the undoubted Bok first choice outside centre and Jesse Kriel the next in line.
“We have lots and lots of centres in Harold, Lionel, Cornal (Hendricks) and David Kriel, and Barend Smit can play centre as well. It’s not a case of Simelane going to the wing just for the sake of it. I think he’s a good rugby player and I would like to see him as part of this backline with those kinds of players around him,” White said from Limerick on Friday.
“He also has aspirations of playing at a higher level, and with Lukhanyo Am basically entrenched as a 13 — and quite rightly so, because he is a very good player — players around South Africa are going to have to find different ways of making their game better.
“So, if a guy like Simelane can play wing, centre and fullback, and he can develop as a player because he is still young, there is no reason why he can’t become a utility player that can double up anywhere.
“Lionel and Harold have played in three Super Rugby finals, and have spent hours and hours together at the Lions, and now the Bulls. They just look at each other and know what each other are doing. When Harold does play with Lionel, I get that confidence.”
White brought back Johan Goosen and Embrose Papier in a new halfback combination, while WJ Steenkamp will also look to make an impact at blindside flank as part of seven changes to the team that lost to Glasgow last week.
“It was always the plan … maybe to not have a specific change-up number, but it was always the plan to rotate the squad — not only for this week, but next week and going forward. I’ve got to see some players play. Some guys haven’t played for a while. I don’t want them to lose their match fitness, and I just think … we are still not sure whether or not we are getting the best out of the group we’ve got,” White said.
“Maybe we’ve got to try some new guys and see if we get some energy from them as well. Nothing untoward — we would’ve changed anyway, and we will change next week as well, win or lose this weekend. And we will probably change for the Sharks as well before we go into our break.
“Embrose and Goose pick themselves: they are two Springboks. As a combination, they are both very good rugby players, so I want to see how that combination grows. Both of them are trying to get back into the national set-up and I think they can be a good combination.
“I probably could’ve moved Elrigh to the seven jersey, and put WJ at eight, and it probably could happen within a game, where they could swop roles — one could go to the edge and one could play in the middle. It just depends on how it goes.
“But this is a good chance for WJ. I am quite keen to see how he plays with Marcell and Elrigh, and then we’ve got Marco on the bench. The back row of Munster — (Gavin) Coombes, (Peter) O’Mahony and (Jack) O’Donoghue — are very good back-rowers. I have no doubt our guys are going to have their hands full.”
Bulls Team
15 Kurt-Lee Arendse 14 Cornal Hendricks 13 Lionel Mapoe 12 Harold Vorster 11 Wandisile Simelane 10 Johan Goosen 9 Embrose Papier 8 Elrigh Louw 7 WJ Steenkamp 6 Marcell Coetzee (capt) 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.
Subs: 16 Bismarck du Plessis 17 Dylan Smith 18 Jacques van Rooyen 19 Ruan Vermaak 20 Marco van Staden 21 Zak Burger 22 Chris Smith 23 David Kriel.
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