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The Bulls’ rise to URC favourites underscores the growing depth in SA rugby

The Bulls’ rise to URC favourites underscores the growing depth in SA rugby
Bulls coach Jake White keeps a watchful eye on Leinster during the warm up for the URC semifinal at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 15 June 2024. (Photo: Gordon Arons / Gallo Images)
Craig Ray
By Craig Ray
17 Jun 2024
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The Bulls’ epic 25-20 win over Leinster in the semifinals of the United Rugby Championship at Loftus is another boost for South African rugby.

The Springboks are world champions and will be for at least another three years. The Stormers have won the United Rugby Championship (URC) and been runners-up in the two completed seasons of the tournament.

And now the Bulls have a better-than-even chance of winning the URC for the first time to continue South Africa’s rise as the pre-eminent force in world rugby.

Being world champions is one thing – but the next step for the Springboks is to dominate between World Cups. For that to happen, the supply chain must be strong.

The success of the Bulls making the URC final, beating a Leinster team with 21 Ireland internationals in the semis, provides a powerful link in that chain.

boks sa rugby ireland Garry Ringrose of Ireland is smothered by the Boks during the Rugby World Cup 2023 pool match at Stade de France in Paris on 23 September 2023. (Photo: Christian Liewig- Corbis / Getty Images)



Bok coach Rassie Erasmus can choose 23 high-quality players at any given time, but for the Boks to continue to dominate, the competition for Test places must have at least three viable options in every position. And South African rugby is close to completely colouring that depth chart.

It’s telling that the Boks will go into their opening Test of the season against Wales at Twickenham on 22 June, missing many frontline players, but still able to put a quality team on the field.

Bulls players obviously won’t be eligible for the Wales Test because they will be involved in the URC final against Glasgow Warriors on the same day.

The Glaswegians, coached by South African Franco Smith, have been excellent this season and have earned their shot at the title. They won’t be making up the numbers at Loftus this weekend.

Injuries


But back to the Bulls – it’s unlikely that any of the current crop of fit Bulls players would’ve made the Bok team anyway.

bulls urc sa rugby Robbie Henshaw of Leinster is tackled during the United Rugby Championship semifinal against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 15 June 15, 2024. (Photo: Lee Warren / Gallo Images / Getty Images)



Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Willie le Roux are all injured. Flank Marco van Staden will play in the final. They are the only four from Pretoria that would be close to the Bok 23.

Bulls No 8 Cameron Hanekom will make his Test debut sometime this year. He’s too good, too complete and too freakishly talented to be ignored much longer. And he’s only 21.

Flank Elrigh Louw is also likely to come into serious consideration later in the season to add to his three Test caps earned in 2022 after a stellar year in Bulls colours.

And lock Ruan Nortje and props Gerhard Steenekamp and Wilco Louw, who are all capped Boks, have surely reminded Erasmus of their worth.

Others such as scrumhalf Embrose Papier, flyhalf Johan Goosen and hooker Johann Grobbelaar must also be close to national honours. In the case of Papier and Goosen, it would be a return to the Test arena, while Grobbelaar can certainly stake a claim for the third Bok hooker position with another big outing in the URC final.

Not losing sleep


Erasmus won’t, of course, be losing sleep over his lineup to face Wales because the 35-man squad for this Test is stacked with quality.

There are 19 members of the victorious Rugby World Cup 2023-winning squad in the group for the Wales Test. Arendse, Moodie, Van Staden and Le Roux should all be available for selection to face Ireland at Loftus on 6 July.

Others, such as Siya Kolisi, Trevor Nyakane, Cobus Reinach and RG Snyman will be back too.

The URC has worked out brilliantly for the Boks. The Bulls, by beating Ireland’s most successful modern province – stacked with Irish internationals three weeks before the first of two Tests between the foes – is a perfect launchpad.

bulls jake white Bulls coach Jake White keeps a watchful eye on Leinster during the warm-up for the URC semifinal at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on 15 June 2024. (Photo: Gordon Arons / Gallo Images)



Before the match, Bulls director of rugby Jake White underlined that a Bulls win would be a huge boost for the Boks, and Erasmus concurred. Now, the Bulls must finish the job in the URC final and Erasmus and the Boks must do their part by winning the series against Ireland.

‘Among my biggest wins’


“This is one of the biggest wins I’ve ever had as a coach,” Bulls director of rugby Jake White said after last Saturday’s 25-20 win over Leinster.

“I was lucky enough to beat the British and Irish Lions at the Brumbies; I was lucky to beat South Africa A with the Bulls in Cape Town. But I would say, man for man, the pressure that comes with a game like this – and especially because Ireland are coming here in three weeks – those are the added bonuses that I feel would rank this as one of the best club results I’ve ever had.

“The Brumbies game must come close because we beat the British & Irish Lions without the Wallabies, but in the modern game this Irish team has beaten the All Blacks and the Springboks.

“So, for a club team – and I say club team because we had no Canan, no Kurt-Lee and no Marcell Coetzee – to beat them must rank as one of the biggest wins we’ve ever had.

“I’m not involved in Test rugby any more; this is as close as it gets. I must admit I felt like a Springbok coach today… it felt like those days I used to stand in a blazer and tie and look around the field.”

The Bulls’ winning performance was of Test match quality. The men from Pretoria are a quality team, not studded with many superstars.

But from their long-kicking game to their steely defence – especially later on – the Bulls showed the tactical nous and execution as well as dogged, old-fashioned determination to get into the trenches and win the small skirmishes.

The Boks, of course, display these traits in abundance, but seeing the Bulls do it is like hitting the reset button for the Test team.

Names and reputations are not as important as planning and execution. The Boks have been reminded of this, in the most positive of ways. DM

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