Bulls hope to rescue their disastrous Super season at Loftus

Bulls captain Adriaan Strauss is hoping that playing most of their remaining Super Rugby matches at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria will give them an advantage as they look to repair their wrecked campaign.

Out of the remaining nine remaining matches in the round-robin stage‚ the Bulls will only travel to the Lions and the Sharks‚ which is a situation that Strauss hopes may work in their favour.

On Saturday night‚ the Bulls host the Jaguares and the rest of their remaining home matches include ties against the Cheetahs‚ Crusaders‚ Highlanders‚ Hurricanes‚ Kings and Stormers.

“It’s good to be back at our home at Loftus‚ which is an advantage for us. We could have done better from the start of the season but there is nothing we could do about it now but we can start rectifying our mistakes at home‚” Strauss said as they prepared for the clash.

• Fleck demands more from Stormers for Lions challengeStormers coach Robbie Fleck has demanded that his side produce another rousing performance when they take on the Lions in a key Super Rugby match at Newlands on Saturday. 

“We are all in this together equally‚ we are responsible to do well every weekend‚ we want to play well and bounce back and we are fully aware that we are not in a good space at the moment.

“We are not going to play for vengeance and anything like that but to play to play for the Bulls.”

Coach Nollis Marais‚ who has been under pressure as a result of Bulls’ poor season‚ where they have only won one match from six‚ said he will rotate the squad to give others a chance.

“We will rotate the squad down the line with certain guys taking strain and certain guys needing more game time‚” he said.

“For example‚ sometimes I will put Jan Serfontein back on 12 and someone on 13 but at the moment we are not in that position and we don’t need to be in that position.

• Senong dreading club-v-country tussle for U-20 World Cup for players like Margeman‚ MahlambiAmajita are set for a mighty clash for players with clubs at the end of the Absa Premiership season for a planned camp in China from early May in the build-up to the Fifa Under-20 World Cup. 

“Unfortunately he (Serfontein) will not be available next weekend and we will have to make changes‚ with Jesse Kriel possibly playing at 13.

“If you look on the hooker’s side‚ Adriaan (Strauss) is playing about 80 minutes at the moment and maybe we need to play him 50 and bring Jaco Visagie to give him game time.

“If we have an injury to Adriaan we will definitely play another hooker who has not played much.”

Marais said the Jaguares are a good and dangerous side and the Bulls will have to be at their best to beat them.

“They are very good‚ if you are going to play incorrectly against them they are going to punish you.

“They offload from anywhere‚ they play a certain style of rugby that makes them very dangerous.

“If one or two decisions went their way‚ they could have beaten the Sharks in Durban last weekend and they are much more dangerous than last year.”

• Sundowns hand rivals Supersport a 5-0 drubbing they won't forget in a hurry in one-sided Pretoria derbyMamelodi Sundowns bounced back from a five match winless streak to reinforce their championship credentials with an emphatic 5-0 derby win over SuperSport United at a rainy Loftus Versfeld on the eve of Easter on Thursday. 

Bulls: 1. Pierre Scoeman‚ 2. Adiraan Strauss‚ 3. Trevor Nyakane‚ 4. RG Snyaman‚ 5. Lood de Jager‚ 6. Nic de Jager‚ 7. Jannes Kirsten‚ 8. Handro Liebenberg‚ 9. Piet van Zyl‚ 11. Jamba Ulengo‚ 12. Burger Odendaal‚ 13. Jan Sderfontein‚ 14. Travis Ismael‚ 15. Jesse Kriel

Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie‚ 17 Lizo Gqoboka‚ 18. Martin Dreyer‚ 19. Jason Jenkins‚ 20. Marnus Schoeman‚ 21. Rudy Paige‚ 22. Tiaan Schoeman‚ 23. Warrick Gelant

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport