Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - The Blue Bulls have been given a boost ahead of their Currie Cup clash with Griquas on Friday at Loftus as three players returned from injury to rejoin the team.
According to the SuperSport website, the Bulls are currently third on the log with three weeks to go in the competition and want to up the ante in their last two games to secure wins to try and get a home semi-final in the competition.
Following their big win over the Pumas, the news was reasonable on the injury front, with only flank Ruan Steenkamp in doubt with a hip injury that is being monitored at the moment, but may not be serious enough to keep him out of the competition.
Big lock Jason Jenkins (knee), flank Jannes Kirsten (shoulder) and winger Luther Obi (ankle) have all returned from time on the sidelines and rejoined their team-mates on the field after being cleared by the medical staff.
Jenkins and Kirsten in particular are expected to return to the starting line-up to bolster the Bulls ahead of their match against a tricky Griquas line-up thus far.
Arno Botha may well also join them, as he is making “steady progress” according to the team doctor Herman Rossouw, and will be assessed later this week to see if this is the week he will return to the field.
While Botha was out, the team was captained by former SA Under-20 captain Hanro Liebenberg, who himself is struggling with a thumb injury. The medical team don’t expect him to be in any doubt for the weekend however.
Another player who missed training on Monday - midfielder Dries Swanepoel - is also expected to make a full recovery from his groin injury.
The Bulls were hit by a bit of bad news as prop Ettienne Swanepoel, who has been struggling with a knee injury all season, finally decided to have the operation needed to fix the problem and will be out for the rest of the season.
The team still is without several players for the rest of the season and the long-term injury list is lengthy with Springboks Handre Pollard and Jan Serfontein heading the list, while others also out for the rest of the year include Warwick Gelant, Dan Kriel and Duncan Matthews.
