Return date for Pollard

Editor

Handré Pollard will join the rest of the Bulls squad on December 4 for a pre-season camp in George and is expected to make a return to the playing field on January 28.

That date will see the Bulls face a South African Super Rugby opponent in Zimbabwe in their first match of the year.

Pollard missed the 2016 season due to knee and shoulder injuries, but he is amongst a host of players, including midfielder Jan Serfontein that has recovered well and will return to the squad at the training camp that will last till December 16.

A big squad is currently training in Pretoria and Bulls coach, Nollis Marais, will cut the numbers before they travel to George for the camp.

The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd confirmed on Friday that Irne Herbst and Dayan van der Westhuizen will be on loan to the Southern Kings for the 2017 Super Rugby season.

"This is a great opportunity for them to play Super Rugby and continue their development and progress as players," BBC's High Performance manager, Xander Janse van Rensburg said.

"We realise the importance of depth if you want to win a Super Rugby title, but it is also in the best interest of South African rugby and the players to have them on the field and playing, so we have no problem with them playing at the Kings in 2017."

A large number of junior players are currently with the squad and according to Janse van Rensburg, this is done on purpose.

"We have been bringing in juniors to train with the senior squad since 2011 and it works well for us. We will expose our U19 recruits like Hanru Sirgel, Kwezi Mafu, JC Pretorius, Jerome Bossr, Christiaan Strydom and Cabous Eloff to the senior group. We deem it important to create opportunities for youngster to be exposed to senior and Super Rugby training sessions and players. In order for us to fast-track them and make the gap smaller, they need to measure themselves against the top players and we believe its integral part of their growth and development as a player. We will be constantly doing this with all the junior players," Janse van Rensburg confirmed.

Western Province U21 wing, Sibahle “Rabs” Maxwane and Junior Springbok and Free State U21 prop Conraad van Vuuren, has also joined the Blue Bulls, he confirmed.

The provisional warm-up fixtures for 2017 are:

28 January: South African Super Rugby opponent (Zimbabwe)
8 February: Chiefs (Brisbane)
10/11 February: Brisbane 10s

The extended Bulls training squad is:

Utility backs: Duncan Matthews, Divan Rossouw, Manie Libbok, Jesse Kriel, Earll Dowrie
Full-backs: Warrick Gelant, Ulrich Beyers
Wings: Luther Obi, Kafentse Mahlo, Irvin Ali, Andell Loubser, Jamba Ulengo, Jade Stighling, Travis Ismaiel, Sibahle “Rabs” Maxwane
Centres: Dries Swanepoel, Johnny Kotze, Jan Serfontein, Franco Naude, Burger Odendaal, JT Jackson, Boeta Hamman
Fly-halves: Francois Brummer, Tony Jantjies, Joshua Stander, Tian Schoeman, Handré Pollard
Scrum-halves: Ivan van Zyl, Andre Warner, Embrose Papier, Rudy Paige, Piet van Zyl

Loose Forwards: Renaldo Bothma, Hanro Liebenberg, Freddy Ngoza, Arno Botha, Nic de Jager, Abongile Nonkontwana, Ryno Pieterse, Jannes Kirsten, Ruan Steenkamp, Shaun Adendorff, Roelof Smit, Jacques Potgieter, Eduan Lubbe, Marco van Staden
Lock: Eli Snyman, Hendre Stassen, Lood de Jager, Jason Jenkins, Ruben van Heerden, RG Snyman
Props: Jacobie Adriaanse, Conraad van Vuuren, John-Roy Jenkinson, Martin Dreyer, Trevor Nyakane, Pierre Schoeman, Gerhard Steenekamp, Lizo Gqoboka, Nqoba Mxoli