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Jake formula to lift Bulls?

Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – Although circumstances were slightly different, Jake White’s Springbok “B-team” approach in 2007, which later paid rich World Cup dividends, may be a spur for the Bulls in their Vodacom Super 14 title quest.

One wonders, indeed, whether Frans Ludeke, coach of the already guaranteed log-toppers, had the former Bok coach’s strategy somewhere in his mind when he named his controversial – though mostly only to Antipodean critics – Bulls second-string XV to face the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.

White, of course, risked both domestic and foreign wrath three years ago, when the World Cup was only a few weeks away, by sending a reserve-strength squad on the away leg of the Tri-Nations.

He left most of his blue-chip players at home to rest as he prioritised bigger-picture needs and their ranks, interestingly, included a few Bulls customers now sitting out the showdown with the Stormers – Victor Matfield, Gurthro Steenkamp and Pierre Spies come to mind.

In the latest instance, the “bigger picture” is simply preservation of the Bulls’ top resources for the Super 14 semi-finals a week on, but some of the senior players at Loftus may be quietly viewing it as a good omen that they have an opportunity to freshen for the knockout stages.

Deep down, even the knockers in Australia and, to a notably lesser extent, New Zealand will probably grudgingly concede that the Bulls topping the league phase with so much to spare gives them every right to “rotate” at Newlands in a fixture with nothing at stake for them.

Another thing worth considering, in terms of comparison to the Boks’ move in 2007, is that the national team’s second-tier players put up incredibly spirited showings then in both Sydney and Christchurch.

Against the Wallabies, Johann Muller’s outfit opened up a shock 17-0 lead with tries from Breyton Paulse and Wikus van Heerden before succumbing 25-17, and against the All Blacks a week later the Boks hung on tenaciously at 12-6 without conceding a try to the champions until well into the final quarter.

They eventually leaked three, for a slightly deceptive 33-6 scoreline in favour of the home side.

If there is a lesson for the Stormers, who would have been contemplating for weeks the challenge of Messrs Matfield, Fourie du Preez and company and suddenly been forced to rethink a tad, it is that “second teams” are seldom powered by any less pride or gusto than their seniors, even if they concede some ground in proven game-breakers and experience.

It’s my own belief that the Stormers, still with so much to play for themselves, will prevail by at least 10 or 12 points -- as any credible, title-seeking Super 14 franchise should in a clash with clearly weakened opponents.

It might even be more than that, if they are the ones landing the heavier “punches” early on – not easy when you have the crusty likes of Bakkies Botha and De Wet Barry bolstering the underdogs -- and getting the scoreboard active in their favour.

That, in fact, ought to be an urgent goal for the Stormers, who would love to put the game beyond the Bulls’ reach as quickly as possible and pull off some of their own more heavily-used players like Brok Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, Francois Louw and Andries Bekker in the second half.

For the record, this was the Springbok “B” side of 2007 which earned the respect of Christchurch for staying toe-to-toe with the heavily-fancied All Blacks for so long (it includes Pedrie Wannenburg, who finds himself in a not dissimilar scenario on Saturday):
South Africa
15 JP Pietersen 14 Breyton Paulse 13 Waylon Murray 12 Wynand Olivier 11 Jaco Pretorius 10 Derick Hougaard 9 Ruan Pienaar 8 Jacques Cronje 7 Pedrie Wannenburg 6 Wikus van Heerden 5 Johann Muller (capt) 4 Albert van den Berg 3 Jannie du Plessis 2 Bismarck du Plessis 1 CJ van der Linde.
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