Tough times for unchanged Bulls

Editor

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has named an unchanged team to face the Hurricanes in the Super 14 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has named an unchanged team to face the Hurricanes in the Super 14 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Ludeke has given the team that lost 15 -14 to the Force last weekend a vote of confidence by announcing the same line-up for their first home game since returning from a fruitless Australasian tour.

Ludeke said that the Hurricanes are a team that are very dangerous from broken play at the Bulls' weekly press conference on Wednesday, adding that he felt the team from Wellington would do everything in their power to win at Loftus.

“They are a team that is able to disrupt the opposition in the loose but the Bulls have come a long way since the beginning of the season,” said Ludeke.

“I would like us to use our possession better on Saturday and be more clinical when we execute our moves.

“We played a lot better in the last two matches and we are creating opportunities but I think at certain stages we weren't patient enough.

“Things will definitely change for us and the players are all taking responsibility.

“They are a tremendously proud group of players and we as a team need to be a lot smarter in the future in order to ensure that we get the right results on the scoreboard.”

Captain Fourie du Preez said the past few weeks was one of the toughest periods he has been through.

“But we managed it on tour and I think it will definitely make us stronger for whatever challenges we will face in the future,” he said.

“The tour was a very good experience for us as a team and if we could have won the last two matches we would have been in a better situation than what we have been at this stage during last year's competition.”

The Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Wikus van Heerden, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Jaco Engels, 19 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Morné Steyn, 22 Deon Stegmann.

Date: Saturday, April 12
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 17:05 (15:05 GMT)
Referee: James Leckie (Australia)
Touch judges: Geoff Acton (Australia), JC Fortuin (South Africa)
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)