Vodacom Super Rugby
Bulls need to be at their best
2011-03-16 19:20
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Victor Matfield (Gallo Images)
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Pretoria - The Bulls will have be on top of their game if they are to beat the Stormers in Saturday’s North v South derby in Pretoria, Bulls captain Victor Matfield said on Wednesday.
"Every week is very important and as we saw two weeks ago, you have to be on top of your game or else you’ll be in trouble,"
One of the mottos the defending champions have based their campaigns around is taking each match week by week.
This week they will be facing one of only two unbeaten sides left in this year’s Super Rugby competition.
This will make the task of securing a win even tougher if they again fail to produce the high standard of play they set themselves.
"The Stormers were in the final last year and are definitely one of the top teams in the competition so it will be a huge challenge for us," said Matfield.
The Bulls had a bye last week after going down 38-25 to the Highlanders the week before and will be out to reinstate their reputation of being unbeatable at home when they take on the Stormers on Saturday.
As far as the hype of playing in a repeat of last year’s Super 14 final is concerned, the lock who is set to earn his 113th Super Rugby cap - equalling the team record set by Pedrie Wannenburg - admitted that he has been as nervous as he always is ahead of big matches.
Matfield also warned that his team mates should not let individual contests, like the battle between pacemen Bryan Habana and Bjorn Basson, have an influence on the team’s plan.
"The most important thing is for the team to come out on top and play well together and if we support each other on the day individuals will look good on the day.
"I really hope the guys won’t focus on those little battles," said Matfield.
"I’ll hope that they focus on what we must go do on the field to go win the game, but we are playing the Stormers in a North/South derby so I don’t think I’ll have to say too much to motivate the team."
Matfield’s last loss to a South African side in a Bulls jersey dates back to March 2007 when they suffered a 17-3 loss to the Sharks in Durban.
However, after the wake-up call the men from Dunedin provided a fortnight ago, Matfield needed no reminder of just how much his men will have to improve to avoid a similar fate.
"We want to get back to our standards of play and the way we believe we should be playing," he said.
"We weren’t happy with the way we played in the last game so we really need to bounce back and play a good game against quality opposition."
Teams
Bulls:
15. Zane Kirchner, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Jaco Pretorius, 12. Wynand Olivier, 11. Bjorn Basson, 10. Morne Steyn, 9. Fourie du Preez, 8. Pierre Spies, 7. Dewald Potgieter, 6. Deon Stegmann, 5. Victor Matfield (captain), 4. Bakkies Botha, 3. Werner Kruger, 2. Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1. Gurthro Steenkamp
Substitutes: 16. Gary Botha, 17. Rossouw de Klerk, 18. Flip van der Merwe, 19. Danie Rossouw, 20. Francois Brummer, 21. Francois Hougaard, 22. Derick Kuun
Stormers:
15. Gio Aplon, 14. Danie Poolman, 13. Jaque Fourie, 12. Jean de Villiers (captain), 11. Bryan Habana, 10. Peter Grant, 9. Dewaldt Duvenhage, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Francois Louw, 6. Pieter Louw, 5. Andries Bekker, 4. Rynardt Elstadt, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Deon Fourie, 1. Wicus Blaauw
Substitutes: 16. Ethienne Reyneke, 17. CJ Van de Linde, 18. De Kock Steenkamp, 19. Nick Koster, 20. Ricky Januarie, 21. Gary van Aswegen, 22. Juan de Jongh
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