Jake White, in an interview with the Sunday Times’s Liam del Carme, spoke of Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) showdown at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld Stadium as being a “red-letter day” for the hosting Bulls — one of significance and special because it will be a historic occasion when the locals play Ireland’s Munster.
But more than a “red-letter day”, it has to be one that shapes a very “blue Monday” for the tourists.
Bizarrely, the Bulls will have to entertain one of Ireland’s traditional powerhouses with a sprinkling of home support, given the government still refuses to allow crowds in excess of 2,000 to professional rugby matches in SA.
The Bulls can’t rely on a biased home crowd packed into Loftus and will have to look inward to deal with Munster. They will also hope altitude is a super-subs bench in destroying the visitors in the final 20 minutes.
Whatever the makeup of the Bulls artillery, this is a match they must and should be expected to win, despite Munster’s imposing league position in a season that has seen them beaten just three times in 11 URC starts.
The team travelling to SA for the next fortnight is not the feared Munster team that rightfully counts among tournament favourites. This is a Munster devoid of nine of its best players, who this weekend will be playing for Ireland against England.
I am backing altitude and home-ground advantage to be enough of a cocktail to leave Cardiff, understrength and out of form, feeling dizzy and defeated.
This is a Munster without backs Conor Murray (94 Tests), Andrew Conway (29 Tests), Joe Carbery (30 Tests) and Craig Casey (five Tests). It is also a Munster that will play without forwards Tadhg Beirne (28 Tests), Gavin Coombes (two Tests), Dave Kilcoyne (46 Tests), Jeremy Loughman and club favourite and 82-Test British & Irish Lions loose-forward Peter O’Mahony.
The Bulls, in terms of opponent, have the toughest South African challenge of the weekend, but realistically even theirs shouldn’t be as tough as the fixture suggests because it dovetails with Six Nations commitments.
This is the weekend when SA’s tournament quartet must make a statement and punish weakened Irish and Welsh opposition. In Stellenbosch on Sunday evening the Stormers have to smash Zebre.
The Italians are without a win in the competition and this has to be a bonus-point return for the Western Cape outfit.
On Saturday, it has to be the Bulls who make the biggest statement and put their play-off challenge firmly back on track. They are four from 10 in the competition, but victory against Munster and another success a week later would propel them into a top-eight play-offs slot.
I have no doubt the Bulls will win and when I tongue-in-cheek asked White in a text message if his men were ready, he responded with animated Bulls on the charge.
I took that as a yes and judging by how those Bulls were charging, Saturday could be a super one for South African rugby.
Equally, the night before in Durban, where the Sharks must emphatically deal with Welsh outfit the Scarlets, who will also be severely hampered because of national commitments, with Wales playing France in the Six Nations.
The Scarlets, with and without their best players, have struggled in winning four from nine matches and the Sharks serve up a whipping.
Which leaves me with the luckless and hapless Lions, who have been torturous on the eye this season.
Still, I am backing altitude and home-ground advantage to be enough of a cocktail to leave Cardiff, understrength and out of form, feeling dizzy and defeated.
The stars are aligned for a South African full house of victories. Four from four.
Mark Keohane is the founder of Keo.co.za, a multiple award-winning sports writer and the digital content director at Highbury Media. Twitter @mark_keohane
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.