Springbok hopeful relishing Irish front-row battle ‘against some of the world’s best’

Bulls prop Wilco Louw is looking forward to his side’s upcoming United Rugby Championship (URC) semi-final clash against Leinster in Pretoria as it will give him an opportunity to test himself against some of rugby’s best front-row exponents.

On their previous visit to South Africa, during the league phase of the competition in April, Leinster opted to leave their first choice players in Ireland.

Leinster at full strength

However, the Irish province are at full strength for Saturday’s do-or-die encounter against the Bulls and are determined to advance to their first URC final.

It will not be easy, however, and Springbok tighthead Louw is excited by the challenge which lies in wait at Loftus Versfeld.

“The URC is such a healthy competition. I don’t think there are any easy games and most weekends feel like a Test,” he said. “It is a big game, like any other play-off.

“It’s a good challenge for us and it’s nice to measure yourself against players who have played quite a few international games.

“We aren’t a young pack, and we are still getting to know each other. There are a few new faces, but we’ve grown a lot as a team and a pack.

United Rugby Championship semi-final match officials confirmed

“It’s definitely going to be a tough battle this weekend, but we are looking forward to it and it’s good to have this chance to measure ourselves against some of the world’s best.”

The battle up front is expected to be significant and Louw knows it will be a tough assignment against Leinstermen like Andrew Porter, Dan Sheehan and Tadhg Furlong, who are Ireland’s first choice front-rowers.

“They are one of the most experienced because they have played a lot of games together, so they are possibly one of the tougher front-rows,” said Louw.

“But scrumming against Ox (Nche), Vincent (Koch) and Bongi (Mbonambi) is also tough. So I think we’ve had some good prep from playing against them (the Sharks a few weeks ago). It will be good to see how we can scrum and maul against a quality side.”

Huge crowd expected

With plenty at stake, a bumper crowd is expected at Loftus Versfeld and Louw knows there will be plenty of pressure on the Bulls to pull off the win on their home turf.

“It is lovely to play at a full Loftus. So we are hoping that there will be a lot of people so that we can first play a good game for ourselves and our families and secondly for the Loftus faithful,” said the 29-year-old.

“We want to see the stadium filled up and although that might bring a bit of extra pressure, we are looking forward to responding to it positively, because the more pressure there is the better you can measure yourself as a player.”

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