Chiliboy out of final
26 Oct 2009
Chiliboy Ralepelle has failed a fitness test and will miss the Currie Cup final.
The Bulls will, however, be bolstered by the return of Bryan Habana, who trained on Monday afternoon without any reaction to a hamstring injury he sustained in their semi-final victory over Western Province.
Ralepelle was always in a race against time to recover from a hairline fracture in his foot, and Bulls team doctor Org Strauss lamented his absence.
‘Chili was still feeling a significant amount of pain when he ran today, and unfortunately we’ve taken the decision to make him unavailable for selection this weekend,’ Strauss told keo.co.za.
‘It was always going to be a push. An injury of this nature usually takes about six weeks to heal, and we were trying to get him ready in four. This meant he couldn’t complete all the phases of the rehabilitation process and ultimately missed out.’
Strauss did, however, stress that he believed Ralepelle would be fit to tour Europe with the Springboks if selected. He continued by explaining that a gamble on an unusual approach to treating Habana had paid off.
‘We used a different treatment model for Bryan and it appears to have been a success,’ he said. ‘We injected cortisone into his hamstring and he completed a whole training session without any pain. Importantly, he ran at full pace.’
There are no other injury concerns for the Bulls.
Blue Bulls (probable) - 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Subs: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.
28 Comments
26 Oct 2009, 17:22 pm
dammit!!
26 Oct 2009, 17:25 pm
#1 grant10: Are you supporting the Bulls?
26 Oct 2009, 17:42 pm
#2 SpringbokSarah: No…will support the underdogs…but would of been great for Chilliboy…
26 Oct 2009, 17:48 pm
what? couldn’t he get his tracksuit off in a specified time?
26 Oct 2009, 17:50 pm
Wont make a difference whatsoever.
26 Oct 2009, 17:52 pm
#3 grant10: just checking… there’ll be more
26 Oct 2009, 17:52 pm
Org is rather a peculiar name.
26 Oct 2009, 18:00 pm
#7 Dantalian:
It is. I trust they did not call him Orgie when he was little
26 Oct 2009, 19:12 pm
#3 grant10:
A match fit Chili may not so be great for the Bulls though,,,
26 Oct 2009, 19:46 pm
Chili needs to not go on tour, get really really fit at every level and then make 2010 his year. Another year like he’s had and his career will end. Which would be a pity.
26 Oct 2009, 19:46 pm
Dont worry Chilli, there will be plenty more time to hurt other teams players.
Our Blue Bulls are going to exact vengeance on the garbage cheetahs, so enjoy the game with us.
26 Oct 2009, 19:54 pm
Hard luck son.
26 Oct 2009, 20:37 pm
I’ve got nothing but love for Chilliboy but he needs, at the very least, to move to a Union that will start him when he’s fit. Between warming the bench and being injured he is never going to develop.
26 Oct 2009, 21:34 pm
chiliboi why don’t you just call it quits? Come on you are a big let down. Stop eating junk food and lay off the mampoer. Go to gym eat healthy.
26 Oct 2009, 21:40 pm
on second thought stay as you are … lets see if you bankrupt the Bulls with medical bills.
27 Oct 2009, 04:49 am
He wont be missed. I hope Bakkies gets carded for the red he shoul have got last week. Go Cheetahs klap these poofdas.
27 Oct 2009, 05:30 am
One less quota to worry about.
27 Oct 2009, 07:44 am
Pity – he would have made a win for the Cheetahs easier.
27 Oct 2009, 08:06 am
Chilliboy is probably the luckiest player out there. He plays minimal rugby, gets a good salary at the Bulls and Boks. When will he ever fit into the Bulls plans? Botha is back, will he lift Botha? Is Chilli really that good? The Bulls turned a flanker into a hooker and picked him before Chilli. I doubt it, but if I was him I will ride this wave.
27 Oct 2009, 08:16 am
#19 Hop Hop Spinnekop:
The most outstanding forward I can think of is ‘Beast’..and he’s Zimbabwean. That man earns his money big time.
27 Oct 2009, 08:43 am
advantage Bulls! …. just 1 question, how does he get injured if he hardly plays? Quota dragon
27 Oct 2009, 10:12 am
#13 Yetirat: unfortunately for him he isn’t better than any of the top 2 hookers at all the big unions and he is certainly far more injury prone.
he needs to get over his injury and go play club rugby or in the vodacom cup and get some game time and go to a smaller union and be the first choice hooker.
27 Oct 2009, 11:20 am
so they just giving habana a steroid injection in the hammie? oh this will fix you… zap! what a stupid thing to do!
27 Oct 2009, 11:20 am
This oke is the new Werner Greeff. He probably played 80 minutes of rugby the WHOLE year yet he is perenially injured? Just looking at his frame, he is carrying too much weight, no wonder the bones in his foot can’t manage the stress.
27 Oct 2009, 16:38 pm
#24 Pietie:
Werner won 3 Tests for the Boks, he did play for 3 full seasons and was a merit selection, beating Percy Montgomery and Tinus Delport for the No 15 position.
Chiliboy was totalled by a wiff of tackles made by Fabian Jurie, the SMALLEST player on the field at Loftus 3 weeks ago, it’s important to mention
27 Oct 2009, 16:45 pm
#19 Hop Hop Spinnekop:
I watched Danny Coetzee last Saturday, he was magnificent!
He left the Bulls in 2006 when the arrival of Chiliboy made him redundant, Adriaan Strauss and Gary Botha left a year later, reading the broader picture
But the Bulls still managed a Super14 and likely to win the CC too this year, so Chiliboy served the purpose: he deflected for the Bulls a lot pressure.
27 Oct 2009, 16:49 pm
#20 Predawn: Beast has been tamed…last good game he had was when he demolished Vickery…done nothin’ since then..
27 Oct 2009, 16:52 pm
#23 iamyourfather: Yah…he’ll be a crock of s*#% by the time he gets to WP..
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