Basson out; Watson in doubt
5 Mar 2013
Bjorn Basson is out of the Bulls overseas tour and Luke Watson’s larynx is still not right.
Basson’s unavailability was expected after he hurt his knee badly in the win against the Force and Watson, despite talk that the injury was not bad, would not have left the field a fortnight ago if it was just something minor.
Blows to the larynx can prove more than an irritation and Watson is still struggling with his breathing after copping an accidental elbow to the larynx in attempting to make the tackle.
Watson adds huge value to the Kings and his possible absence, especially in the a leadership role, will be felt.
The Bulls, in losing Basson, lose their best winger, but coach Frans Ludeke is hopeful that flankers Dewald Potgieter and Deon Stegman will be fit for selection. Ludeke, like capain Pierre Spies, acknowledged that the lack of a specialist fetcher in the Bulls line-up, aided the Force and restricted the Bulls in the 36-26 win of last weekend.
The Bulls play the Blues in Auckland on Sunday and the Kings host the Sharks.
By Mark Keohane
25 Comments
5 Mar 2013, 09:11 am
go the Kings!!
5 Mar 2013, 09:14 am
Are they gonna let Puke play against any SA opposition, or just the overseas sides?
5 Mar 2013, 09:22 am
Kings going to get klapped this weekend. Enjoy their play but against the Sharks dont think they will win.
5 Mar 2013, 09:25 am
Chilley made history yesterday by being the first South African cited and found innocent , by Freek Bugger and his cronies.
5 Mar 2013, 09:26 am
Question to all/anybody.
Do the Bulls do a Hougaard and throw Handre Pollard in the deep end come the Currie Cup? Can’t imagine Louis Fouche taking them very far.
5 Mar 2013, 09:29 am
does that mean puke cant talk coz of a busted larynx
5 Mar 2013, 09:45 am
Lol.
Some poor sod must have spent all day repeatedly voting on the poll.
The Bulls have picked up about 500 votes overnight!
Overtaken the Stormers and just 2 votes behind the Sharks now.
5 Mar 2013, 09:47 am
Prospective 2015 Rugby World Cup venues:
Amex Stadium, Brighton
Ashton Gate, Bristol
Pride Park, Derby
Ricoh Arena, Coventry
Elland Road, Leeds
Stadium MK, Milton Keynes
King Power Stadium, Leicester
Old Trafford, Manchester
St James’s Park, Newcastle
Stadium of Light, Sunderland
Villa Park, Birmingham
St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton
Wembley, London
Olympic Stadium, London
Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
Twickenham, London
Kingsholm, Gloucester
Sandy Park, Exeter
Who will be going over to ol’ Mother Hubbard to watch?
Why the h*ll does Cardiff get games?…. The world cup is meant to be in England and the Welsh shouldn’t have the advantage of another “home” world cup after recently hosting 1999 and having home games in 2007…….. NO TO CARDIFF HAVING MORE RWC MATCHES!
5 Mar 2013, 09:51 am
Under the circumstances, the Bulls squad is looking pretty good.
Considering that we could have been without Dewald Potgieter, Deon Stegmann, Bjorn Basson, Chilliboy Rallapele, JJ Engelbrecht, Akona Ndunagane, Jacques Potgieter and Francois Hougaard, who were all injured or facing suspension as of Sunday, the fact that we will most likely only be missing Bjorn Basson isn’t too bad at all.
And if Basson is truly only out of 10 days as reported in the media, rather than the season ending injury that it looked like on Saturday, well, things are looking pretty positive on the injury front.
5 Mar 2013, 09:54 am
@ShaunB-8:
Don’t see why having games at Cardiff is a big deal? But if you must know it’s probably got something to do with the Welsh Rugby Union backing England in exchange for being included.
A country like Wales is now too small to host a RWC on its own anyway so it’s good that they are included.
5 Mar 2013, 10:04 am
@hendrikp-10:
Uhm because Wales officially hosted the RWC as recently as 1999 and again hosted games as recently as 2007 (when it was meant to be a French hosted RWC).
Why should the Welsh benefit by having so many RWC home games?
Why aren’t the Scots invited? They’re “too small” to host a RWC too? What about the Irish being left out in the cold too? Why are the Welsh special?
1999, 2007 and 2015. That’s a lot of home RWC games….. whenn the likes of SA hasn’t hosted a RWC since 1995 and won’t for a significant while yet….
5 Mar 2013, 10:10 am
@ShaunB-11:
Didn’t think of it like that. Fair call.
5 Mar 2013, 10:24 am
@hendrikp-12: If NZ can sucessfuly host it on their own then Wales can as well , otherwise dont give it too them.
5 Mar 2013, 11:04 am
@Tacitus-9:
I wish we were missing Jaques Potgeiter.
5 Mar 2013, 11:10 am
Puke’s injury improves the Kings’ chances. Jacques Engelbrecht had a great game against the Force.
5 Mar 2013, 11:14 am
They will dig out another quota, no harm done
How many times last two seasons did Basson pull the Bulls through?
Not too many times, if any
5 Mar 2013, 11:16 am
@Sasuke-3:
Really?
Why do you think SARU picked one name Jafta to referee the game?
5 Mar 2013, 11:27 am
@ShaunB-7: Bakkies did it to prove to some poor sod that the poll could not be used as an argument that Stormers fans are not in the majority on Keo.co.za.
5 Mar 2013, 11:40 am
I thought Stegman had a good game vs the stormers and made a couple of great steals. I just hope he keeps that form because we really need a fetcher.
5 Mar 2013, 13:35 pm
According to the Bulls’ website Bjorn Basson is indeed in the touring squad.
5 Mar 2013, 14:51 pm
RT @keocoza: Basson out; Watson in doubt: Bjorn Basson is out of the Bulls overseas tour and Luke Watson’s larynx is still… http://t.c …
5 Mar 2013, 14:51 pm
Bjorn will go on tour a week later than the rest of the squad.
5 Mar 2013, 15:00 pm
@Hondo-16:
Don’t worry they’ll stick Mapoe on the wing, where he belong, and put in a real rugby player at centre :p
5 Mar 2013, 15:40 pm
@ShaunB-11: “Why are the Welsh special?”
Y?cozY:
The Welsh lasses are prettier … real rarebits
5 Mar 2013, 17:19 pm
@ShaunB-7: Stormers wobbling out of the gate could have something to do with it but I wouldn’t put it past a Bulls fan to sit all night voting.
I recall the Sharks 5 loss start a couple of years back. The most difficult thing about a wobbly start is not the fact that you have lost a game or two, but when you look forward the pressure just piles on.
So the Stormers have 1 log point from 2 games. This weekend they go up against a formidable looking Chiefs outfit. Hopefully the jetlag can count in the Stormers favor but the pressure to win will now start mounting and could act against the Stormers like it did the Sharks.
Beating the Chiefs will take a monumental effort. I think the Stormers are capable but they will have to get their heads in the game. Luckily after that they have a break, but then they have the Brumbies, Crusaders…..the assault just doesn’t stop.
It can get to a point where a team starts to feel like they simply cannot score any log points and that is when things start to fall apart. It is easy to end a Super rugby tournament without a win.
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