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Cape Town - Bulls coach Frans Ludeke says his side always relishes playing at Newlands, and hopes the same can be said after Saturday's Super Rugby clash there against the Stormers.
The Bulls will top the Super Rugby standings if they beat their arch-rivals but Ludeke knows it will be a tough task, despite the Stormers having an indifferent season where they failed to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
"We are up against an opponent we know, it is always very physical and there are no easy metres to be gained," Ludeke told the Rugby365 website.
"It will be a very tough battle, we are well aware of that. (But) there certainly won't be a lack of commitment. Newlands brings out the best in our players.
"We have set our goals and we have set ourselves up to achieve great things (this season). However, we can't afford to look past this coming weekend.
"We have to ensure we play quality rugby, as we are up against a good team with quality players (five Springboks in the starting XV and a couple more on the bench).
"In many ways they are similar to us - a team with a strong maul and a very competitive set of forwards.
"They have Springboks across the park and their backline is lethal from broken play - that is why we simply can't afford to look past this weekend."
Bulls captain Dewald Potgieter said the result will come down to which side is more disciplined on the day.
“Discipline will be of the utmost importance and if we give the Stormers the same number of penalties we gave the Sharks (in a 20-19 win last weekend), we will definitely be paying for it more severely,” Potgieter told SAPA.
“It's something we’ve addressed and we just can’t allow that same ill-discipline to ruin our effort.”
The North-South derby kicks off at 19:10 on Saturday.
Teams:
Stormers:
15. Gio Aplon, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Jean de Villiers (captain), 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Gary van Aswegen, 9. Louis Schreuder, 8. Nizaam Carr, 7. Rynhardt Elstadt, 6. Deon Fourie (vice-captain), 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16. Martin Bezuidenhout, 17. Pat Cilliers, 18. Gerbrandt Grobler, 19. Don Armand, 20. Nic Groom, 21. Elton Jantjies, 22. Damian de Allende
Bulls:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling
Substitutes: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Morné Mellet, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Jono Ross, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Jürgen Visser
The Bulls will top the Super Rugby standings if they beat their arch-rivals but Ludeke knows it will be a tough task, despite the Stormers having an indifferent season where they failed to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
"We are up against an opponent we know, it is always very physical and there are no easy metres to be gained," Ludeke told the Rugby365 website.
"It will be a very tough battle, we are well aware of that. (But) there certainly won't be a lack of commitment. Newlands brings out the best in our players.
"We have set our goals and we have set ourselves up to achieve great things (this season). However, we can't afford to look past this coming weekend.
"We have to ensure we play quality rugby, as we are up against a good team with quality players (five Springboks in the starting XV and a couple more on the bench).
"In many ways they are similar to us - a team with a strong maul and a very competitive set of forwards.
"They have Springboks across the park and their backline is lethal from broken play - that is why we simply can't afford to look past this weekend."
Bulls captain Dewald Potgieter said the result will come down to which side is more disciplined on the day.
“Discipline will be of the utmost importance and if we give the Stormers the same number of penalties we gave the Sharks (in a 20-19 win last weekend), we will definitely be paying for it more severely,” Potgieter told SAPA.
“It's something we’ve addressed and we just can’t allow that same ill-discipline to ruin our effort.”
The North-South derby kicks off at 19:10 on Saturday.
Teams:
Stormers:
15. Gio Aplon, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Jean de Villiers (captain), 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Gary van Aswegen, 9. Louis Schreuder, 8. Nizaam Carr, 7. Rynhardt Elstadt, 6. Deon Fourie (vice-captain), 5. De Kock Steenkamp, 4. Eben Etzebeth, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16. Martin Bezuidenhout, 17. Pat Cilliers, 18. Gerbrandt Grobler, 19. Don Armand, 20. Nic Groom, 21. Elton Jantjies, 22. Damian de Allende
Bulls:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling
Substitutes: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Morné Mellet, 19 Jacques du Plessis, 20 Jono Ross, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Jürgen Visser
