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Five bold possible debutants for the All Blacks in 2026
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'I will never forget': Ex-Bok aiming to put one over Jake White and his Bulls
By Simon Thomas
Springboks great Albert van den Berg says he would love to put one over on his former coach Jake White.
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The ex-second row played under White when South Africa won the 2007 Rugby World Cup, winning 51 caps in all.
Now, in his new role as Scarlets forwards coach, he is set to lock horns with his former boss who is bringing the unbeaten Bulls to west Wales.
“From the time I spent under Jake, he brings a lot of confidence in you as a player,” said Van den Berg.
“He has got a clear game plan of what he wants from everyone in the team and he puts all of that together.
“I will never forget in 2004 when he pulled me into the squad, he said ‘If you guys do what I tell you to do, we will win the next World Cup’.
“He installed that belief in you that you were good enough to be there.
“He will get his guys fired up for this game. He has stated this is their year to perform.
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“They have a lot of Springboks in their team. They are physical, they’ve got a good scrum, a good maul and they are really good on counter-attack.
“But we will be ready for them. We like to take on the big teams and the big names, so our guys will all be fired up for that.
“The spirit is up in the camp and everyone is happy after the win down in Cardiff.”
As for his reunion with his former mentor White, he added: “I would love to get one over on him. It’s a Friday night game, I think I would come back on Monday not sober! It would be great to get the win.”
For scrum-half Gareth Davies, who has scored four tries in the Scarlets’ last two games, it will be a first outing following his announcement that he is retiring from international rugby.
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Hooker Akker van der Merwe captains the Bulls who are looking to make it four wins from four in the league.
Scarlets: Ioan Nicholas, Tom Rogers, Johnny Williams, Eddie James, Blair Murray, Ioan Lloyd, Gareth Davies, Kemsley Mathias, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas, Alex Craig, Sam Lousi, Max Douglas, Josh Macleod (CAPT), Taine Plumtree
Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Alec Hepburn, Sam Wainwright, Jac Price, Dan Davis, Efan Jones, Sam Costelow, Macs Page
Vodacom Bulls: Henry Immelman, Sebastian de Klerk, Canan Moodie, Harold Vorster, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Boeta Chamberlain, Zak Burger, Jan-hendrik Wessels, Akker van der Merwe (CAPT), Wilco Louw, Ruan Vermaak, Cobus Wiese, Kuyenzeka Xaba, Reinhardt Ludwig, Cameron Hanekom
Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Dylan Smith, Francois Klopper, JF van Heerden, Celimpilo Gumede, Embrose Papier, Chris Barend Smit, Stedman Gans
