Jake White fronts the press over Bulls 'B-team' selection controversy
Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White pushed back strongly against suggestions he is deliberately fielding a ‘B-Team’ in the Champions Cup quarterfinal face-off against Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday.
None of the Springboks that featured in last week’s 59-19 Round of 16 demolition of Lyon made the trip to England.
Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Goosen, Embrose Papier, Elrigh Louw, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Vermaak, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar and Gerhard Steenekamp all stayed at home.
White made it clear he was not leaning towards focusing on the United Rugby Championship and over the more distinguished Champions Cup.
The trip to England comes in the wake of two tough matches – a humbling 14-47 loss to Leinster in Dublin and a 59-19 Champions Cup win over Lyon in Pretoria last weekend.
Defending URC champions Munster – who beat the Stormers in the Final in Cape Town last year – arrive for a Round 14 crunch match at Loftus Versfeld next week, as the Bulls go into a vital period of URC fixtures.
They host Munster and Ospreys, then European semifinals (if they win this weekend), back to hosting Glasgow Warriors and Benetton in the URC.
The Champions Cup Final is scheduled for May 25, before the Bulls travel to Durban to face the Sharks before the final round of URC league action.
White said the selection for the encounter with the Saints is based on two factors – the need to rotate more (a mistake he admittedly made last year) and medical advice.
“I have said it over and over again, last season I did not rotate my squad enough and it came back to bite me in the end,” an indignant White said.
“It has nothing to do with Munster,” he continued, adding: “It has to do with where we are as a group.”
White pointed out that six players in the teams to face Saints had played in three Soper Rugby Finals.
Another eight had featured in the team that beat Leinster in Dublin in the semifinal of the inaugural tournament in 2022.
Stravino Jacobs and Cameron Hanekom make their return from injury.
“They were the first-choice starters in their positions before they were injured,” the Bulls boss said.
“Then there is rotation, but more importantly, I received medical advice that some players with ‘bumps and bruises’ after the last trip [to Dublin] and the massive game against Lyon would be an enormous risk on a trip abroad.
“They would unlikely be ready for Saturday and we would be at risk with players who can’t start.
“You can’t have guys 50-50 [to play] when you travel away from home and not being ready by Saturday.
“It would be impossible to replace them.
“It is the best team we can field.
“I am confident and looking forward to seeing how they perform.”
Bulls: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Henry Immelman, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Izak Burger, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Nizaam Carr (captain), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Janko Swanepoel, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Merwe Olivier, 20 Reinhardt Ludwig, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
Date: Saturday, April 13
Venue: Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 20.00 (21.00 SA time; 19.00 GMT)
Referee: Mathieu Raynal (France)
Assistant referees: Ludovic Cayre (France), Luc Ramos (France)
TMO: Thomas Charabas (France)
Comments on RugbyPass
Well you’ve made a proper tit of yourself, haven’t you! 😂
173 Go to commentsBen it's beyond their comprehension-
202 Go to commentsThanks Sam. Interesting read. Harder or easier for Parling to come into a completely new setup where performance was abysmal last time out? I’d suggest easier to be better but, as you suggest, will be a lot to do with how much latitude he’s granted. Hopefully all he needs. With hybrids like Holloway, Hannigan, Swinton and Leota as options at 6 we have the basics for a strong lineout. BPA returning means we have good options at 2 also with Faessler, Porecki and Uelese, although Jordan is a scrumming beast rather than a dart thrower. I’m typically a pessimist or realist but that’s never applied to the Wallabies
1 Go to commentsMad how this somehow contained absolutely zero information.
1 Go to commentsI’m looking forward to attending the Twickenham match, I don’t think it will have a bearing on the outcome of the grand prize itself but it will tell us more about each teams’ preparation and game plan. It’s hard to look past one of the big four (I’m including Canada) lifting the trophy in 2025 but sport is a curious thing, there will still be twists and turns in road ahead.
2 Go to commentsThe better side seems to be the losing side a lot these days. As far as narrative goes. Must be the big emergent culture of “participation awards” that have emerged in nanny states. ”It looked like New Zealand would take the game from there but lapses in execution let South Africa get back into the game. New Zealand’s goal kickers left five points out there, including a very make-able penalty on the stroke of half”. Sounds like a chronic problem… I wonder how the better team has lapses in concentration and execution? Or are those not important factors in the grand scheme of total performances? In 2023, the ABs at least didn’t give up a lead to lose. They just couldn’t execute to get the points and take the lead. This Baby AB result points to a choke - letting the game slip through your fingers. In the words of the great Ricky Bobby’s dad - “If you’re not 1st you’re last!” Loosely translated - if you didn’t win, you’re a loser.
9 Go to commentsWith Stuart Lancaster at the helm, Racing 92 looks more and more a mercenaries club like Toulon some years ago and they are not even performing despite all the money on offer.
4 Go to commentsCouple of things BS missed: wind was behind the Baby Blacks in the first half. Baby Boks got points from a scrum penalty in the final quarter against this ‘dominant pack’, and left three points on the park after a missed penalty.
9 Go to commentsSensible thoughts on this, Brett. Also worth considering we’ve sold 60k tickets for a game between the Rebels and the Lions next year. Got to be roughly $10m in ticket and game day revenue there.
5 Go to commentsUnsuccessful bitter ex Ulster player taking a pop shot at a side that isn't including his consistently poor mates up north
4 Go to commentsHis decision to play in France isn’t a petulant decision as this article suggests. I reckon that France is the perfect place to demonstrate that he can mix it in those battles Rassie references. It’s a good decision to try get into the squad. My personal opinion is that he wins more battles than he loses. I don’t have Rassie’s stats machine behind me, but Daymian’s is so strong moving through traffic and in the rip.
4 Go to commentsWow! Argie forward dominance is something I have not read in years….
1 Go to commentsIs the ‘snub’ really why he is leaving? He hasn’t said that has he? You don’t have to stay in SA to play for the Boks, so it’s not that he’s giving up on trying to get into the squad as the case would be in, say, England or New Zealand. Rassie made it clear that the early camps won’t feature all the players to play for the Boks this year so I can’t imagine Dayimani was too offended by being overlooked this time. It just seems like a sensationalist angle to take for a story without really knowing the player’s intentions.
4 Go to commentsWell, it is easily one of the best Irish sides, it’s just that their historical standard is very low.
4 Go to commentsThe Irish side is good. They have lost 2 games in the last 23 tests. In the last 12 months they have have a 60% win rate against the top 5 sides in the world. Over the same period south africa have a 67% win rate against the top 5 teams, and New Zealand are at 40%.
4 Go to commentsOnly 1247 days until RWC 2027 starts Bin Smuth🤣Can’t wait to see how unhinged you’re still gonna get between now & then
202 Go to commentsany chance either team will improve on their u20 world cup performances this time around? I assume both sides will be deeply disappointed with how things went.
6 Go to commentsAnother poor articles by a poor journo, nothing new from Ben, at least you are consistently bad lol, geez I will try and watch the match later, clearly Benny was only looking to one end of the pitch, hard to tell whom the Baby Blacks were playing if it wasn’t in the header 😄😄
9 Go to commentsNz should have won. I didn't watch the game, but the ref was at fault and the bounce of the ball and the Bokke used the Bomb squad and the Bokke slow the game down and the Bokke scrum. They should remove the scrum. The Bokke are to strong. Not fair. Nz should have won
9 Go to commentsProbably the worst article on a rugby match I have ever read
202 Go to comments