Bulle too physical for WP?

The bulle

Cape Town - Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse says the Blue Bulls' physicality will be too much for Western Province to handle in their Currie Cup semi-final at Newlands on Saturday.

VIDEO: Enticing north v south derby awaits

WP finished on top of the Currie Cup log and beat the Bulls on both occasions in the regular season.

But the men from Pretoria have gained momentum after a slow start and seem to be peaking at just the right time of the season.

Stonehouse, whose Pumas side finished in a credible sixth position on the log, says the log-leaders may find the going tough despite playing at home.

In an interview with SA Rugbymag, Stonehouse acknowledges that WP are the most dangerous team in the competition from broken play. He singles out Cheslin Kolbe, Seabelo Senatla and Juan de Jongh as players who can decide the outcome of a match with a single moment of individual brilliance.

However, Stonehouse says the Bulls "live for" these playoff matches and feels their physicality will also be too much to handle for WP.

Stonehouse says he cannot see WP containing the likes of Dean Greyling (prop), Grant Hattingh (lock), Paul Willemse (lock) and Handré Pollard (flyhalf/centre) and predicts a four-point victory for the Bulls.

Earlier in the season, WP beat the Bulls 41-17 at Newlands and also won the return leg at Loftus Versfeld 23-18, before the Bulls season gained momentum.

Kick-off for Saturday's clash at Newlands is scheduled for 17:00.

The talk in the Cape ahead of Saturday’s play-off fixture is revolving around the Bulls’ heavyweight pack, and the early indications are that Coetzee may be giving consideration to combating the big Bulls forwards by selecting a heavyweight pack of his own. He can do that by including Rynhardt Elstadt at No 6 flank ahead of Sikhumbuzo Notshe, who was excellent at No 8 against the Sharks this past weekend.

Elstadt played well at lock against the Cheetahs two matches ago and is a big driving forward who has been used at No 6 by the Stormers in the past, most notably when the Cape side outplayed the Highlanders in Dunedin on Easter Saturday of 2012. But the emphasis of the WP game has switched since then, so there will be understandable eyebrows raised if Coetzee does opt for the heavyweight option as it might rob WP of some pace around the park.

Whatever he decides to do, Coetzee does have options, and the form of Gerbrand Grobler, who played his first game of the season against the Sharks after a long injury lay-off and excelled, should have given the coach something to think about. Grobler has put on some extra muscle during his lay-off and looked a real force in the second row.

Ruan Botha, who was playing outstanding rugby before he was injured, is out for the rest of the season, and former Puma international Manuel Carizza is expected to start in the No 5 jersey against the Bulls. However, should Grobler play instead, on the basis of his showing against the Sharks, he would not be out of place.

It is Carizza’s calling of the line-outs that will earn him the nod ahead of Grobler, and it makes sense if you consider that the former has been part of the WP mix for much of the season. However, Coetzee can rest easily in the knowledge that he does have a good player to fall back on should Carizza be injured and WP make the final the following week.

Jean Kleyn is expected back from injury and has been training with the team to face the Bulls over the past 10 days. His return will be welcomed as he has been the unsung hero of the WP pack this season.

Another player who caught the eye against the Sharks was loosehead prop Oli Kebble. A lot was expected of Kebble at the start of the year but he has been out for much of it with injury. His performance against the Sharks, however, was a reminder of why he was ahead of Alistair Vermaak in the front-row pecking order at the start of the season.

Pat Cilliers should return to the starting side for Brok Harris, who captained the WP second stringers in their energetic performance against the Sharks, but Harris will provide able back-up from the bench.

At the back, Kurt Coleman was good against the Sharks and his kicking game has improved under the tutelage of former Bulls kicking coach Vlok Cilliers, who is now back in the Cape. However, Demetri Catrakilis has been the recognised starting No 10 for most of the season and is likely to continue in that role in the play-offs.

With Cheslin Kolbe back in training, the player that Coetzee is sweating on at the moment is centre Jaco Taute, who could have an important role to play if, as expected, the Bulls choose Handre Pollard at No 12. Taute injured ribs against the Cheetahs and is understood to have performed only a spectator role when WP trained at the HPC on Monday.

According to Coetzee, he has made the hard decisions when it comes to the starting team. It is only the bench that he still has to make up his mind about. Against the Bulls it wouldn’t be surprising if he stuck to the five/two split between forwards and backs that we saw last week.

The split on the bench could though depend on whether Taute is fit. If he is, Coetzee will probably go for a four/three split so that Michael van der Spuy can perform the role of back-up to the No 12 position, in which case a prop will drop out of the mix

 ...Bean Brain , mate looks abit like yr gunna get yr butt kicked by Pollard , Basoon and co on the weekend ... must have a little flutter on that one...

...Lions and Sharks look strong as well ....from memory that rain puddle team topped the Super XV log one year and came nowhere as well...

...Blue Bulls paying NZ$8.00 to take out the Currie Cup...WP paying just $2.10...not sure what the head to head odds are this weekend but think i'll have to get a piece of the action...not much in it between the Sharkies and Lions so harder one to p ick..