Vodacom Bulls coach Gert Smal has hailed the impact of the team’s senior players in the Currie Cup while calling for the return of crowds to give the provinces the income to retain these players. DYLAN JACK reports.
A Bulls side featuring a quartet of Springboks and a spine of seniors powered to a 40-21 victory over a comparatively inexperienced Western Province team in Cape Town on Wednesday evening.
Report: Bok-powered Bulls pummel Province
While Smal fielded a heavily changed lineup for the match, flyhalf Morne Steyn, centre Lionel Mapoe, flank Marcell Coetzee and hooker Bismarck du Plessis all started. Other notable inclusions were the team’s latest recruit, Cyle Brink, who scored a try on debut, fullback James Verity-Am, centre Harold Vorster and scrumhalf Marco Jansen van Vuren.
The difference in experience between the two teams counted as the Bulls rampaged to a 28-0 lead at half time. It was only later in the second half, when the Bulls started ringing the changes and bringing on less experienced players off the bench, that they started to lose control and Province scored three tries in the last 20 minutes.
Speaking post-match, Smal said it was great to have veteran players returning to South Africa to share their experience with the younger players in the squad.
“In South Africa, we lose a lot of senior players, and we lose their experience and leadership. It’s nice to have the older guys coming back and sharing that with the youngsters. Hopefully, we will see that a little bit more in the future, that mix of experience and youth. It’s quite nice.”
Having served as WP’s director of rugby between 2014 and 2019, Smal is well aware of how difficult it can be for South Africa’s unions to retain top players amid interest from wealthier overseas clubs.
“I think before they came back, it was really difficult with young teams all the time,” he said.
“I hope we can get the crowds back as well at the same time, get a bit more income and so on, so that we can start building the provinces. That’s what’s happening in the URC in other countries. We need the money to keep our top players here, or bring them back.”
Meanwhile, Province coach Jerome Paarwater made no excuses for his team’s performance.
“Look, it’s still the Currie Cup. There is no excuse. You can pick whoever you want to pick. If we decided to play the URC team tonight, it would be up to us to make that decision. They made that decision and it’s their right to do what they want to do. In this competition, the Currie Cup, there is no excuse.
“It’s the Bulls right to pick whoever they want to pick. From our side, we get all the help that we can get, we get the players that we have to get. We also knew that the URC team is playing on Saturday, so we knew that we were going to lose a few players. But from Western Province’s side, we certainly work together [with the Stormers] there.”
A north-south derby rematch will take place in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship this weekend as the Bulls welcome the Stormers to Loftus Versfeld on Saturday evening.
Photo: EJ Langner/Gallo Images
