There are 13 national players in the matchday squad of 23.
Bulls boss Jake White has sent out a clear message to the other teams in this year’s United Rugby Championship: he is desperate to win the title and will pick a power-packed Springbok-laden team to get the job done.
This much is certain after White named 10 Springboks in his starting team for Saturday’s match against Ulster at Loftus Versfeld, with kick-off at 4pm.
There are a further three Boks on the bench for the round three match. The Bulls go into the game on the back of a win against Edinburgh last weekend.
White’s team are two-time runners-up in the competition. They lost to the Stormers in Cape Town in season one and then also lost at home, to Glasgow Warriors, in Pretoria last season.
Bok stars
White has made it clear he wants to win the URC title at all costs and stated before the season got underway his team could not be better prepared than this season. He has often stated having several experienced Bok players in the mix is the recipe for success.
This weekend he has included all his Bok players who were recently involved in the Rugby Championship campaign, namely Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp and Jan-Hendrik Wessels. The other Bok players in the matchday squad are Embrose Papier, Wilco Louw, Akker van der Merwe and Aphiwe Dyantyi.
In an interesting pick, Boeta Chamberlain will start at flyhalf in place of another Bok, Johan Goosen, but Le Roux is almost certain to play at first receiver during the match, while Moodie will play in the centre alongside David Kriel, who shifts infield from the wing.
Cameron Hanekom, the big No 8, will look to continue his good form as he aims to make the Bok squad for the tour to Europe in November, while Sebastian de Klerk has been picked on the wing ahead of more seasoned players.
The Bulls made hard work of their win against Edinburgh last Saturday and White will hope this selection, with more all-round experience, will get the job done far more easily than was the case a week ago. A powerful, winning performance will send out a statement the Bulls and White mean business in the 2024/25 season.
