Bulls buoyed by rookies’ rise
22 Feb 2012
Frans Ludeke says that their young recruits and players emerging from their junior system will give the Bulls a skills dimension they have lacked in recent years.
The Bulls named six Super Rugby rookies to face the Sharks in Pretoria on Friday evening, among them the young midfield pair of Johann Sadie and Francois Venter, as well as JJ Engelbrecht who plays off the bench.
Sadie impressed in his limited opportunities for the Stormers before the Bulls swooped, former director of rugby Heyneke Meyer saying at the time that he would have taken him to the 2011 World Cup because of his X factor. Sadie has spoken about his improved physical and mental conditioning and the Bulls’ coaching staff privately have massive expectations for the 22-year-old. The Bulls have lacked a world-class outside center in recent years and the belief at the franchise is that given an extended run Sadie will quickly develop into one.
Venter has been identified as a future Springbok, with Meyer telling this site early last year that he expects him to make the step up to Test level in two to three years. A standout player for the Baby Boks, Venter’s skill set is near complete. He needs refinement and that will come with the experience he’ll get in Super Rugby.
Ludeke pointed to their distribution and handling skills and eye for holes in a defensive line as being their primary threat. ‘We haven’t really had players with that skill dimension for some time. They offer us something new. We have a structure that we believe in but within that structure there is room for players of their kind, players whose first instinct is for ball-in-hand attack,’ Ludeke told keo.co.za.
‘They are the type of players that give you a buzz when they have the ball. They are capable of doing something completely unexpected and obviously players like that are invaluable. If we [the pack] give them a good platform they have the ability to be very destructive and create opportunities for the outside backs. That’s where a guy like JJ will come into play later in the game. He can cope very well with limited space, and his acceleration is very good, which is a mark of a good modern-day winger.’
The Bulls also have other graduates from their famed junior systems in CJ Stander and Arno Botha (excluded from the match 22) to stir optimism. Stander didn’t look an impostor in his senior matches to date, while Botha, the best forward for the Baby Boks at the World Championships last year, won’t be suppressed for long.
However, while there is optimism about their near future, a mass exodus of senior players will undoubtedly affect them in the present. Ludeke has conceded this but refused to accept mid-table mediocrity.
‘There’s a culture of success here and while we are realistic about our situation we still believe we can have a good season. The only major concerns we have are at lock. If one or two of the boys are injured we’re in trouble. Other than that we have good experience around the park and decent depth in most positions. We want to challenge for the SA conference and that will start with winning our home matches. We dropped points at home last year and we want to make Loftus a fortress again.’
By Ryan Vrede
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158 Comments
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22 Feb 2012, 18:47 pm
The Bulls are a well balanced outfit with plenty of young guns wanting to make a mark.
I’ll go with the Bulls here by 10+.
22 Feb 2012, 19:14 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-149:
If you believe the figures that’s fine
Might be that the WP scale is loaded?
22 Feb 2012, 19:17 pm
Did that dusky just call me yawn.
22 Feb 2012, 19:32 pm
Those stats are about right, they don’t mean everything but unfortunately still alot of crash bang in midfield, if they got the ballast to maintain freum, sbw, kahui, umaga, jared, etc etc fine – just saying they def on smaller end. JdJ got a killer sidestep which can split defences wide open in an instant, also tackles like a terrier, but he needs to attack more if he wants to become a Bok centre. Test of bulls young centre partnership is how they defend, which jw quite rightly recognized as VIP, every single team nowadays stresses an incredibly structured tight defense, gotta be able to do both.
22 Feb 2012, 19:37 pm
Jakey going to be v interesting in S15, he got fkall to work with, but I won’t bet against his brumbies at all. Damn it’s going to be funny on here if he start with winning ways.
22 Feb 2012, 21:02 pm
all I can say is thank fck that JW dodo losing ways reverse gear reverse thinking reverse rearguard action play without the ball kick and chase defense wins games hopeless 0-49 garbage rugby is well and truly behind us now..
thank fck all his little glorified prima donna clones have almost hit the highway and the new generation of real rugby renegades are shining coming through.. its been a whole 12 long years since the end of the Du Plessis / Mallet era that Bok rugby has stagnated and stagnated bad,.. and gone in reverse mode rearguard chickenshit cowardly retrograde motion since Streauli and White fck’d good wholesome bust a gut traditional Bok rugby up the defense wins games arsehole and sent it into a cowardly chickenarsed retrograde spin…
Now we gonna see some rugby for the first time since 1999 – got verdompt its been a long time coming but at long last we ready for the brand new dawn
22 Feb 2012, 21:11 pm
Sharks by 8-plus
61
Sharks by 1-7
54
Bulls by 1-7
46
Bulls by 8-plus
28
Total Votes: 189
Take a look at those votes
More sharkievarkies calling an upset on the keo voters poll
These Sharkievarkie puff adders reckon they got some poison beneath those fangs.. lets check it out Friday night
the guppieyuppie poeftas reckon its a 115 – 74 vote conclusion that Sharkievarkies gonna whip the Bulls at home…
Big brave bok ballas bravado believing they got bulletjies number, well thats a mighty high hope call… in anybodies book.
22 Feb 2012, 23:36 pm
Every single team in tge world started concentrating on their defense following jw’s RWC-winning boks, who also ended up scoring more tries than any other team in the tournament. He was too conservative, but White simply adapted to the laws at tge time, he will do the same at the brumbies.
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