Bullfighter butterflies ahead of Stormers-Bulls Super Rugby clash

26 February 2016 - 09:14 By CHUMANI BAMBANI

Robbie Fleck, who had a number of memorable matches as a player and assistant coach of the Cape side, will take charge of his first Super Rugby match as head coach.Apart from being humbled and excited about the occasion of the most hyped-up South African derby this weekend, the Stormers coach admits to a swarm of butterflies having found home in his stomach."It's a massive honour for me. It's really humbling to be involved in this sort of match. I can only draw confidence from our preparation, how hard we have worked and where we are - that gives me comfort," Fleck said yesterday."Obviously there are a few butterflies in the stomach, and there's a fair bit of expectation out there. That is only natural because we know we play for a great franchise, the players understand it and we are all excited."Instead of trying to run away from it, I'm really looking forward to getting the season off [to a start] and it's even better that it's against the Bulls."While the Bulls will have as many as six debutants for the season opener, the Stormers will by no means undermine their opponents.Fleck has selected three players who are yet to be tested at Super Rugby level - flyhalf Robert du Preez and replacements JD Schickerling and Leolin Zas. The rest of his squad is vastly experienced, with two Springboks, Siya Kolisi and co-captain Frans Malherbe, sitting on the bench."Frans is coming back from an ankle injury which he sustained two weeks ago and the feeling is that he hasn't had any game time building up to this game. It's the right move to bring him off the bench," Fleck said."Siya has also been injured a long time . that is the exact same reason why we are not starting him."Fleck believes that the loss of Bulls flyhalf Handre Pollard to a knee injury for the entire season will give the Pretoria side added motivation to do well."Pollard is a big loss but losing a player like that can galvanise a side. We all know that Pollard is a quality player, so he is a loss. Having said that, they are playing an all-round game and they will still be a formidable team," said Fleck.His opposite number, Bulls coach Nollis Marais, wants to put the Pollard loss behind them."I think we should not focus on Handre anymore, he's not going to be part of our season," Marais said. "Although he is a big loss for us, I think [starting No10] Francois [Brummer] and [back-up] Tian [Schoeman] are good rugby players and we should give them the space to flourish in that position."..

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