Vodacom Bulls scrumhalf Zak Burger is wary of the dangers posed by Benetton and expects a challenging battle when the two teams meet at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Italian side will come to Loftus buoyed by having thumped the Bulls in the 2021 Rainbow Cup final, while several of their players were involved when Italy claimed a historic victory over Wales in the Six Nations this year.

“Going up against Benetton, we know that they are a good team. They won the Rainbow Cup last year and they have all of their international players back now from the Six Nations,” said Burger ahead of Saturday’s URC clash.

“So, we know that it is going to be a very hard match and we know that we are going to have to be really clinical and take our chances whenever they are presented to us.

“In this Benetton team, there are about 12 players that were in that Italy team that beat Wales in Cardiff. They are obviously full of confidence now after winning that game. I really think that it’s going to be a very hard battle for us.”

The 23-year-old has made some weighty contributions for the Bulls this season, and is pleased with both his personal improvement and the strides his team has been making since the start of the season.

Burger added that there were lessons he and his teammates learned from their narrow defeat by the Stormers a fortnight ago.

“What we took out from our previous game is that we were not clinical enough,” he said. “Games like that are like a Test match and you have to take your chances whenever you get them. On that day, we did not take enough of our chances. We have to be clinical this weekend against a good Benetton side.”