Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – Fresh debate around a Bakkies Botha citing may be smoke-screening a deeper issue: shouldn’t Danie Rossouw start ahead of him for the Bulls in Soweto on Saturday anyway?

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The defending champions awaited with bated breath on Monday - ahead of their Vodacom Super 14 semi-final against the Crusaders - the outcome of a judicial hearing in Pretoria after the abrasive Springbok lock found himself in disciplinary hot water for an incident early into the final league fixture against the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.

He was cited under Law 10.4 (h) for “dangerously and recklessly entering a ruck without using his arms or grasping a player”.

Stormers wing Gio Aplon received on-field treatment to his face shortly after the incident in the second minute, involving the acting Bulls captain.

Clearly the Bulls are pinning their hopes on Botha’s availability for selection for the semi-final, although there may just be a school of thought within the camp that fellow-Springbok Danie Rossouw is in better form and fitness and warrants a second-row berth alongside Victor Matfield.

Certainly many rugby neutrals would not regard it as a massive shock if Botha was employed as an “impact” player off the bench against the Crusaders, even if the other way around is just as feasible an option for the Bulls.

The seasoned, versatile Rossouw, who turned 32 earlier this month, has stood in admirably for Botha at lock while his colleague recovered from a long-term Achilles tendon injury.

Botha returned to the mix recently although he has not set the world alight, nor even completed 80 minutes of rugby yet: he was substituted for Fudge Mabeta before the end of the 38-10 “Bulls B” defeat to the Stormers.

Rossouw is certainly famed for his honest work ethic, while Botha - though showing some flashes of his personal best - sometimes looked peripheral and off the pace against the Stormers.

Indeed, for a player who has mostly learnt to “focus” his aggression to the Bulls’ and Boks’ advantage in recent years, he seemed overly preoccupied with niggly off-the-ball spats with various Stormers forwards at Newlands: a return, maybe, to a phenomenon that used to curb his effectiveness in his earliest first-class years.

Should Botha get past the first hurdle, escaping censure in the offices of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, might he find that a place in the Bulls run-on XV at Orlando Stadium is actually a steeper challenge?