Cape Town - The Bulls’ decision to use one big squad across two competitions has seen them rise to the top of the Currie Cup standings, but it could come back to bite them in tomorrow’s United Rugby Championship encounter against the Stormers in Cape Town.
Bulls director of rugby Jake White has insisted that it is important that the Pretoria-based team defend their two Currie Cup titles from last year properly.
They are well on their way to a hat-trick of Currie Cups after moving to first place on the log with Wednesday’s 45-34 bonus-point victory over Western Province at Loftus.
But at what cost is it to their chances of success in tomorrow’s United Rugby Championship clash at Cape Town Stadium?
The Bulls have mixed up their combinations in the Currie Cup, and opted to use an almost full-strength United Rugby Championship side at times in the domestic competition.
It’s very different in Cape Town, where the Stormers and Province have had two distinctly different squads throughout the season.
It has meant that WP are now languishing in sixth place on the seven-team log with just a lone win in seven matches, but the Stormers have certainly benefited from that approach as they are the leading South African team in the United Rugby Championship.
They are in sixth position on the log with 43 points, one ahead of the Bulls and two more than the Sharks.
Of the Stormers bench players for the Bulls clash, only two members were involved in WP’s loss to the Blue Bulls on Wednesday – locks Connor Evans and Ben-Jason Dixon.
In contrast, the Bulls could have flyhalf Morné Steyn, scrumhalf Keagan Johannes, locks Janko Swanepoel and Reinhardt Ludwig, hooker Joe van Zyl, and props Robert Hunt and Simphiwe Matanzima in the matchday squad that will be announced by White.
Many other United Rugby Championship regulars – and even captain Marcell Coetzee – have also played some part in Currie Cup in recent weeks, and it might take its toll on Saturday.
When Steyn, who captained the Bulls on Wednesday, was asked by SuperSport in a post-match TV interview about the next Currie Cup game against the Sharks next Saturday, he said: “First, it’s another URC on Saturday. For me, it’s six games in three weeks!
“So, we first have to focus on Saturday, and then take the next Currie Cup one. I think it’s my kids and my wife that keep me young – I don’t know!”
That might be the 37-year-old legs that were talking, but it must be a concern for the Bulls heading into tomorrow’s match.
A few weeks ago, the Bulls played virtually the same full-strength team across three games in a week – two United Rugby Championship and one Currie Cup – and won all.
But it is now getting to crunch time in the United Rugby Championship, with quarter-final slots being fiercely contested, while European Champions Cup positions are also being chased.
The Bulls need their best players to be as fresh as possible, and that includes the bench. They won’t have to be reminded that the Stormers beat them at Loftus in January through a try in the last few minutes by replacement scrumhalf Paul de Wet, while Warrick Gelant also had a major influence as a second-half substitute.
And those two players are again among the Stormers replacements for tomorrow.