Cape Town - Having won their last three games against European opposition, it would be easy for the Bulls to take it for granted that they just need to rock up at Loftus Versfeld tonight to claim another bonus-point win over the Dragons (7.15pm kickoff).
But the United Rugby Championship is a funny old competition. Unlike the old Super Rugby, it has stages where teams are missing their Test players, like the South Africans did late last year and the Six Nations countries did over the last few weeks.
Suddenly, though, the foreign clubs currently in South Africa have their internationals back, and there will be renewed optimism that they beat the likes of the Bulls in Pretoria.
Not that the Dragons are overly stocked with Welsh Test stars – international hooker Elliot Dee and lock Ben Carter are back in the starting XV this week, while scrumhalf Rhodri Williams is on the bench – although Argentina Test halfback Gonzalo Bertranou will add much-needed experience.
The Newport side have won one and drawn one after 10 games so far, but it is exactly this type of encounter that can prove to be tricky for a Bulls coming off a superb 57-12 demolition job of the Scarlets last week.
They will also be without star No 8 Elrigh Louw, who has tested positive for Covid-19, but hopes to be back for next week’s clash against Ulster.
“We can’t just arrive and think it’s going to be an easy win. It’s going to be a hard ask, and any game is not a given. Last Wednesday (Currie Cup match against the Lions) showed – a put-together Lions team, with injuries and Covid, and Varsity Cup players coming in at late notice, and it was 0-0 after 30 minutes. We are learning collective lessons as well,” coach Jake White said during the team announcement press conference yesterday.
White has continued to encourage his team to play a positive, attacking brand of rugby, and they will hope to fine-tune their performance even further ahead of big upcoming games against Ulster, the Stormers and Glasgow.
“Before last week’s game, people asked me what I want, and I said I just want to work on the cohesion between backs and forwards.
“I thought last week, it was probably the best example of interplay between backs and forwards. The try that (Johan) Grobbelaar scored, if it is not the best try scored in the URC… It’s going to take a lot for a team to score a 90-metre try where everyone touches the ball and ends up with four playing three, playing one, playing two.
“We want to be able to play different ways, and develop our game as a unit. If we keep doing that – whether we play Ulster, the Stormers or in the playoffs, I think the way you win this competition has been shown by Leinster over the years: you’ve got to have a complete game.”
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