Pretoria - The Vodacom Bulls will not be signing any more players for the forthcoming Super 14 season, and have added just four new faces to their team for next year.
The Bulls started their training minus their Springboks at Loftus Versfeld this week with three of their new signings joining their ranks as they set about defending their Vodacom Super 14 title next season.
While prop Bees Roux, hooker Gary Botha and flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter are already back in Pretoria and training with the side, the Bulls will have to wait a little longer for their stalwart utility back Jaco van de Westhuyzen, who will only join them in mid-January if his club side allows him to.
Van der Westhuyzen's side NEC Green Rockets are struggling in the Japanese League at the moment, meaning that the Groblersdal product could well join his Pretoria team-mates sooner rather than later.
Bulls business manager Ian Schwartz confirmed that the team would not be signing any further players - meaning the rumours surrounding the possible arrival of former All Black Carl Hayman in Pretoria are rather premature.
"We won't be signing any more players. We believe we have the players in the system that can win the Super 14 again for us," Schwartz told SuperRugby.
Instead the Bulls are concentrating on other levels, and coupled with the return of Heyneke Meyer to the system, the team will also fly in a number of consultants to work with the players before the season begins.
Schwartz added that while there was some talk surrounding the next level of depth in the squad and the way these players would develop as stalwarts like Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Fourie du Preez start to look to the Twilight of their careers, that their successors have already been identified by the team.
"We already have identified the players to take over from guys like Victor and Fourie and they are already in the system. The competition there for those places is intense," Schwartz adds.
One example of this is Francois Hougaard, who is being groomed to replace Du Preez in the future, who was used to good effect as a utility back in the Absa Currie Cup this year and earned his Springbok colours for his efforts.
The Bulls started their training minus their Springboks at Loftus Versfeld this week with three of their new signings joining their ranks as they set about defending their Vodacom Super 14 title next season.
While prop Bees Roux, hooker Gary Botha and flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter are already back in Pretoria and training with the side, the Bulls will have to wait a little longer for their stalwart utility back Jaco van de Westhuyzen, who will only join them in mid-January if his club side allows him to.
Van der Westhuyzen's side NEC Green Rockets are struggling in the Japanese League at the moment, meaning that the Groblersdal product could well join his Pretoria team-mates sooner rather than later.
Bulls business manager Ian Schwartz confirmed that the team would not be signing any further players - meaning the rumours surrounding the possible arrival of former All Black Carl Hayman in Pretoria are rather premature.
"We won't be signing any more players. We believe we have the players in the system that can win the Super 14 again for us," Schwartz told SuperRugby.
Instead the Bulls are concentrating on other levels, and coupled with the return of Heyneke Meyer to the system, the team will also fly in a number of consultants to work with the players before the season begins.
Schwartz added that while there was some talk surrounding the next level of depth in the squad and the way these players would develop as stalwarts like Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Fourie du Preez start to look to the Twilight of their careers, that their successors have already been identified by the team.
"We already have identified the players to take over from guys like Victor and Fourie and they are already in the system. The competition there for those places is intense," Schwartz adds.
One example of this is Francois Hougaard, who is being groomed to replace Du Preez in the future, who was used to good effect as a utility back in the Absa Currie Cup this year and earned his Springbok colours for his efforts.