It’s not often that you see a coach drop the very players that have just won him a major game, but Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has decided to do just that.
Ludeke made three changes to his side to face the Brumbies in their Vodacom Super Rugby game at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night, and in the process dropped the three young stars that were sensational in getting his team across the line against the Stormers.
Captain Flip van der Merwe was always going to return after a three week suspension, with Paul Willemse dropping to the bench after some strong performances. But it is the dropping of Handre Pollard at flyhalf and Marcel van der Merwe at tighthead that has raised eyebrows in the team at the moment.
Pollard was last week named as the captain of the SA under-20 side for this year’s IRB Junior World Championships and very narrowly missed out on being named in a Springbok training squad. His performance against the Stormers, only his second start, showed maturity and determination to come back from an intercepted pass and yellow card to get his team across the line from a bad start.
Not only that, but he was in sensational form, as was Van der Merwe, whose two starts were enough to convince Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer to include him in the 36-man squad, but not enough to get him game time this week.
Wimpie van der Walt makes way for Willemse on the bench. Ulrich Beyers also comes onto the bench in place of William Small-Smith, who is ill.
To be fair, Jacques-Louis Potgieter was also in good form when he made way for Pollard, and deserves to be played again, while Werner Kruger has been a stalwart in the team for some time now.
Still, it is strange to see a coach change players who are in form, after performances like that, and it gives the idea that there was a pre-arranged deal that the younger players would get some game time, but only a limited amount.
“That’s the fantastic thing about all of them and the team, and the moment you begin to win, the self-confidence goes up and everyone looks better. You can see they are definitely on a different level than they were a few weeks ago. You must remember the things you believed in paid dividends,” Ludeke said of the changes on Tuesday.
“But it is also important, we have a lot of confidence in a guy like Flip, who put in a few massive performances before the suspension, in Werner (Kruger) and Jacques-Louis (Potgieter) to now start. We have a strong squad and we will need two No 1s in each position. Not every team has it and we are privileged to have such guys in a position like this. With their good performances, it is also nice to bring back guys like Werner, Flip and Jacques-Louis and give them an opportunity to make a difference.
“We all know Flip, he has a huge work rate and he is a specialist four lock. The work he has been doing in the last few seasons for us there is a lot. He adds a lot. It’s great to have him back.”
Ludeke said that this was very much still a rotational policy at the moment, where he was looking to change players to get the best out of them, but when it comes to the playoffs – if the Bulls qualify – the best team will play.
“Flip was off for three weeks so he is fresh and back, Paul (Willemse) had a lot of starts and got a lot of experience. The same with Werner, he had two weeks off. There is still a lot of hard work to be done, but if we are privileged enough to get into the finals, that’s where you know all the players and know who is valuable to have gotten the side there. Then we will pick the best combinations for that game.
“Strategy will always be the main thing in selection.”
Still, the debate about who is the best to take the team forward will carry on, with especially Van der Merwe’s elevation to the Bok training group likely to place a bit more pressure on Ludeke.
Friday night though will definitely be about strategy, with the Bulls set to play a tactical game and continue their aerial assault against a Brumbies team likely to employ the same tactics.
“Definitely both teams believe in field position, you can see it in all the games, but when they are in the right areas, they are very accurate and the tries they scored are good. They have almost the best setpiece attack from scrums and line-outs and they are very clinical,” Ludeke explained.
“They also keep the ball well. That is why field position is important and that’s why I thought against the Stormers we were a lot more accurate than all the games. We need to be in the right areas to convert it into points.
“Not just kicking but we need to start well. We were behind in the last two games and we used penalties to claw our way back. We need to be more patient about how we score tries, but hopefully we can get a great start this weekend and we can build on that."
When you consider wins alone may not be enough, the Bulls need to get a few bonus points along the way if they want to strengthen their bid. Friday night could well be a watershed game for them in this regard.
VODACOM BULLS: 15.Jurgen Visser, 14.Akona Ndungane, 13.JJ Engelbrecht, 12.Jan Serfontein, 11.Bjorn Basson, 10.Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9.Francois Hougaard, 8.Grant Hatingh, 7.Jacques du Plessis, 6.Jono Ross, 5.Victor Matfield, 4.Flip van der Merwe (capt), 3.Werner Kruger, 2.Callie Visagie, 1.Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16.Bongi Mbonambi, 17.Morne Mellet, 18.Marcel van der Merwe, 19.Paul Willemse, 20.Jacques Engelbrecht, 21.Piet van Zyl, 22.Handre Pollard, 23.Ulrich Beyers.
