PRETORIA – It may have come across in jest from Bulls coach Nollis Marais that there is no love lost between the Bulls and Stormers but the reality is that there will be little love and plenty of blood rushing to the head when these two giants of South African rugby lock horns at Newlands on Saturday.
“Look there is no love lost between north and south, Bulls and Stormers. It will be the same this weekend, we expect a very hostile reception and we like it, it makes it interesting,” Marais said in team announcement at Loftus Versfeld.
“That is why it is a derby. It is north south. It is war and nothing else. We want to go out there and win”
And it will be war, very much in the same thread as all the other battles between the two franchises have been brutal and fierce.
The ferocity of this encounter will further be heightened by the grim reality that both sides will see themselves as the rightful candidates to finish the season atop the Africa 1 conference and give them a free pass into the quarter-finals of the competition.
So the gloves will be off and the only pleasantries will be left for after the battle has been won or lost.
While Marais freely shares his side’s ambition this year to go for the ultimate prize, at the moment he has put his blinkers on and sees nothing beyond his team facing the Stormers.
It was in this very same fixture at the very same place in the competition and at Newlands that Marais received his baptism of fire as his young and inexperienced Bulls side was put to the sword in the latter stages of the encounter and eventually lost 33-9.
So the Bulls will go to Newlands older, with more Springboks than before and hopefully wiser but Marais was cautious not to put the cart before the horse and sing the praises of his side.
“The proof will be in the pudding. I think it’s going to be a tough match on Saturday and I think we’ve developed a lot from where we were, how we want to play and the way we think about things,” he said.
“We’ve made a huge step up from last year. We want to be competitive in each and every match this year and we know we’ve got a difficult draw. But we will see on Saturday where we are and how we’ve developed.”
Surely Marais is being diplomatic and not too keen to engage in a war of words that could just be the fuel the Stormers seek to their fire.
But the truth of the matter is that the Bulls have indeed grown and they will put up a formidable side that is amongst the best in the competition.
Leading them will be Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard who is itching to go after injury put him on the sidelines for a year.
Then there is the mouthwatering tussle of the second rows where the Bulls will be hoping that Springbok Lood de Jager and Springbok-in-waiting RG Snyman will outsmart, overpower and outplay the all Bok lock duo of Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit.
Another facet of play the Bulls will be desperate to dominate is the scrum and they might enjoy more grunt than the Stormers with the stocky but capable Bok prop Trevor Nyakane anchoring their scrum at tighthead while the energy that loosehead Pierre Schoeman brings backed up by replacement Lizo Gqoboka will make it difficult for the Stormers to gain dominance in the set-piece.
It is in the set-piece that Marais feels that the Stormers’ fire can be extinguished and then the likes of Pollard, centre Burger Odendaal, wings Jamba Ulengo, Travis Ismaiel and fullback Jesse Kriel can run riot.
But it is cracking that tough epicenter within the Stormers team that Marais will want his troops to get busy doing from early on in the game.
“I think it is basically the same team as last year with Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit so it is going to be tough for us. They always have a good start against us and we were in the game until around the 58th minute,” Marais said.
“They are always good upfront and they are a physical side. But I’ve said that if you dominate the set-pieces you are in the running but if you let them dominate the set-pieces then it is going to be a long day for you.”
The Bulls have enough firepower on the bench to really set this encounter alight and for a change get their season off to a good start, in the process breaking a six year losing streak at Newlands.
This is a battle the Bulls won’t want to lose because it will have far reaching implications for the war they are so desperate to win.
Bulls team:
Jesse Kriel, Jamba Ulengo, Dries Swanepoel, Burger Odendaa, Travis Ismaiel, Handre Pollard, Rudy Paige, Hanro Liebenberg, Jacques Potgieter, Nick de Jager, RG Snyman, Lood de Jager, Trevor Nyakane, Jaco Visagie, Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: Edgar Marutlelle, Jacobie Adriaanse, Lizo Gqoboka, Jason Jenkins, Ruan Steenkamp, Piet van Zyl, Tian Schoeman, Warrick Gelant.