The Bulls, Stormers and Lions will all be chasing vital wins in a big weekend in the United Rugby Championship (URC) when they take on Zebre, Munster and Leinster respectively.
The Bulls will be hunting a big result against Zebre (kick-off 1pm) as part of a double header at Ellis Park, and they will hope to secure their place in the URC knockouts by the end of the weekend.
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Despite them being expected to break a four game losing streak in the competition with a big win over the bottom of the table whipping boys, coach Jake White believes they still have to be at the top of their game against a side that is always in the fight.
“I know they (Zebre) haven’t won in a while but the reality is that they are always thereabouts. You look at some of their results and they don’t get put away (often),” explained White.
“They have a couple of South African guys that know the Bulls as well, so they are just one of those teams who always stay in the fight and I am expecting nothing less from them on Saturday.”
Flyhalf Johan Goosen makes a return to the Bulls URC starting line-up after being out with injury over the past few months, before playing a few games in the Currie Cup and White is excited to see him in action.
“We’ve got a guy like Johan Goosen playing 10, and we know how good he is. We know when he’s on song, what a difference he makes to our team,” said White.
“You saw what guys like Canan (Moodie) and Kurt-Lee (Arendse) have done in a short space of time when they’ve come back, so I am hoping we’ll get the same sort of energy and skill level that I know Johan can do.
“The forwards are settled, but we’ve obviously got a new 10 and we’ve got Chris Smith on the bench, who’s played lots of rugby and he’ll give us some extra added value at the back-end of the game.”
Off their back
The Stormers will be trying to keep hard chasing Ulster off their back when they host Munster at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 6:15pm).
They have already sealed a home quarterfinal but will want to make sure they have home ground advantage for the semis if they get there, with Ulster just two points behind them on the log.
Munster still haven’t secured their quarterfinal spot, so will be going all out, but the Stormers should be too strong for the Irish challengers at a ground that they haven’t lost at since December 2021.
The Lions face a massive challenge of trying to upset runaway log leaders Leinster at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 4pm).
It is an interesting clash as it will be a Leinster B team in action, but they have not lost yet this season, while the Lions are in-form and at altitude, so it should be a tight encounter.
