Steenkamp gets the Blue band
Tue, 30 Sep 2008 11:51
Wilhelm Steenkamp will skipper the Blue Bulls against the Falcons in their Currie Cup fixture at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night, after Bulls management decided to rest a host of key players.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke and his management team decided to rest high profile players such as Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Bryan Habana, Wynand Olivier, Derick Kuün, Morné Steyn and Pierre Spies for three main reasons.
"Firstly, the Bulls would like to honour Peter de Villiers's request to give the Springboks a break during the Currie Cup," said Ludeke.
"We also managed their training schedules over the past few weeks in order to keep them from over-training, but I still feel that they deserve a break.
"Secondly, we have worked hard to get into the semifinals and now that we are in the ideal situation - where we are going to stay in the second place on the log no matter what happens on Friday is a great position to be in.
"However, we are going to go out against the Falcons with the sole aim of picking up five log points and to keep our momentum for the play-offs.
"Thirdly, resting players is the best way to get rid of niggling injuries and players such as Morné Steyn, Derick Kuün, Wynand Olivier and Marius Delport have played in almost every game so far and a break will do wonders for them," he added.
Ludeke selected Zane Kirchner at fullback while Rocco Jansen and Tiger Mangweni are going to play on the wing. John Mametsa is in all probability going to play in place of the injured Akona Ndungane in the semifinal, but has a slight problem with his glute muscle and thus wasn't considered for the Falcons match.
SA Under-20 centre Stephan Dippenaar, who played Super Rugby for the Bulls earlier this year, is going to partner Wayne Julies in the midfield while Burton Francis and Heini Adams will be the halfback pairing.
Dewald Potgieter is again going to start in the No.8 jersey while Pedrie Wannenburg and Deon Stegmann will slot in on the flanks.
Steenkamp, who was the Bulls' triumphant Under-21 captain in 2006, is going to partner Juandré Kruger at lock while Ruan Vermeulen, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Jaco Engels form a formidable front row.
Vermeulen has been training with the Bulls for a substantial period now, and gets an ideal opportunity against the Falcons to show his worth at tighthead.
Ludeke has included three Under-21 players in Fudge Mabeta, Francois Brummer and Stefan Watermeyer on the bench while well known players such as Bandise Maku, Jacques Burger and JP Joubert will be used as impact players in the second half.
Blue Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Tiger Mangweni, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Wayne Julies, 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Burton Francis, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Dewald Potgieter, 7 Pedrie Wannenburg, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp (captain), 4 Juandré Kruger, 3
Ruan Vermeulen, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Fudge Mabeta, 19 Jacques Burger, 20 JP Joubert, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Stefan Watermeyer.
Date: Friday, October 3
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: JC Fortuin
Touch judges: François Veldsman, Cobus Wessels
TMO: Johann Meuwesen
