Bulls set to lose Renaldo Bothma who has a date with citing committee

18 March 2017 - 15:20 By Mahlatse Mphahlele
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Adriaan Strauss of the Vodacom Bulls in action during the Super Rugby match between Vodacom Bulls and Sunwolves at Loftus Versfeld on March 17, 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa.
Adriaan Strauss of the Vodacom Bulls in action during the Super Rugby match between Vodacom Bulls and Sunwolves at Loftus Versfeld on March 17, 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa.
Image: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images

Bulls coach Nollis Marais is resigned to losing Renaldo Bothma for a period of time‚ as the flanker has a date with the Sanzaar Foul Play Review Committee on Sunday‚ March 19 for dangerous play.

Bothma‚ who was not included in the Bulls squad for the trip to New Zealand and Japan over the next three weeks‚ received a straight red card for a dangerous tackle during their 34-21 win over the Sunwolves at Loftus on Friday night.

“When I saw it I knew it was a red card‚ They have made it clear to us and everyone about the rules of tackling in the competition and we must respect and accept it‚” Marais said after the match.

The Bulls are scheduled to play against the Blues and Chiefs in Auckland and Waikato respectively before rounding off their overseas assignments with another date with the Sunwolves at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo over the next three weeks.

Victory for the Bulls against the Sunwolves was influenced by a brace of tries by centre Jan Serfontein and one each from prop Pierre Schoeman and lock Jason Jenkins‚ as they finally registered their first win of the season following defeats to the Stormers and Cheetahs.

Marais added that Bothma’s red card ‘killed’ their momentum as they had to play the rest of the second half with a man short‚ which was not easy against a team that likes to keep the ball.

“They scored a soft try before half time and the red card killed us in the second half. You can defend all you want but somewhere there is always going to be space and that’s why we held back our substitutions‚” he said.

The Bulls won by what looked like a comfortable score at the end in front of a poor Loftus crowd‚ and Marais admitted that they were not at their best on the night.

“We made it difficult for ourselves at times but at the same time guys fought well considering that we had to play 40 minutes of the match with a man short against a team that like to keep the ball‚” he said.

“We had a few opportunities to score and we should have closed the game early. There were a few mistakes before half time that allowed them back in the game.

“We did most of the attacking work in first 30 minutes and we did not start that badly as the previous games against the Stormers and Cheetahs.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now