Refreshed Bulls back in business, seeking to slay the Dragons

The refreshed Bulls are expecting a bruising encounter with the Dragons in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash at Rodney Parade in Wales on Saturday. 

The Bulls, who go into this match with a three-match winning streak in the competition after back-to-back victories over the Lions and the Stormers, are on a mission to cement their place in the top half of the table. 

The tournament resumes after a two-week hiatus due to the Six Nations and Bulls coach Jake White said the break came a the right time. 

“It was a bit of both, one is that it has given us time to freshen up the players and also it gave us time to tweak a couple of things that we needed to do,” said White. 

“During the coming month or so, we go the Dragons and Leinster, we have Lyon at Loftus and then you could play either Northampton or Munster in the quarterfinal stage. That is one month of intense rugby but it has a lot of rewards if you do well. 

“We needed a bit of refreshing and if you remember at this stage last year it was difficult for us. I got sick and I could sense that we were in a bit of a hole and the learnings we got out of last year were that we needed a break. The break came now and we have done really well during that break.” 

The Bulls, who are second on the URC table and four points behind leaders Leinster, will be slight favourites in this match as they have won both their previous meetings against the Dragons who are second from the bottom and have lost their last two matches. 

White has announced a powerful squad for this match that includes a number of Springboks like Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Marcell Coetzee, Marco Van Staden and Ruan Nortje. 

For the Dragons, Cai Evans returns at full-back in a move that sees forwards Aaron Wainwright and Elliot Dee dropping to the bench, winger Rio Dyer is rested but Wales' Ben Carter is back at lock after suffering a hamstring injury in November. 

Erstwhile Wales prop Rhodri Jones will make his 150th Dragons appearance, George Nott is back to partner Carter in the second row with scrumhalf Rhodri Williams alongside Will Reed at half-back. 

Teams 

Dragons: Cai Evans, Ewan Rosser, Joe Westwood, Steff Hughes (capt), Corey Baldwin, Will Reed, Rhodri Williams, Rhodri Jones, Brodie Coghlan, Chris Coleman, Matthew Screech, George Nott, Dan Lydiate, Sean Lonsdale, Taine Basham. 

Replacements: Elliot Dee, Rodrigo Martinez, Luke Yendle, Ben Carter, Harri Keddie, Aaron Wainwright, Dane Blacker, Jared Rosser 

Bulls: Willie le Roux, Sebastian de Klerk, Canan Moodie, Harold Vorster, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Chris Smith, Zak Burger; Marcell Coetzee, Mpilo Gumede, Marco Van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Ruan Vermaak, Wilco Louw, Jan Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp 

Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Simphiwe Matanzin, Mornay Smith, Reinhardt Ludwig, Nizaam Carr, Embrose Papier, Johan Goosen, Devon Williams