J. J. Harmse

Pretoria – His blood brother, Victor Matfield, hopes that the citing of Bakkies Botha does not douse his fire against the Lions on Saturday.

Botha was cited by Sanzar citing commissioner Freek Burger on Saturday night following the Bulls’ defeat to the Stormers, but the charge was quickly dismissed by a Sanzar disciplinary committee on Tuesday.

Botha can therefore play in the Jukskei Derby this weekend.

“I just hope that the citing does not have an influence on the way Bakkies plays. I was very surprised when I heard he had been cited. I thought that there were other incidents in the game that could have led to possible citings, but definitely not the tackle by Bakkies,” said Matfield.

“I know Bakkies is very determined not to get involved in any more incidents and wants to stay on the straight and narrow. We need a fiery Bakkies on Saturday.”

It is clear that the Bulls – after successive defeats at Loftus – need a lot more than just a fiery Bakkies and Matfield conceded that they had to pull finger.

“It’s not just the senior players, but everybody. There are a lot of expectations of the team from supporters and the team itself. Everybody, including the top players, need to be playing to their potential for us to live up to that.”

Matfield said that the team still believes in what it’s doing and what it can achieve. They are asking supporters to do the same.

Gurthrö Steenkamp will not be available for the next few months and Bulls coach Frans Ludeke on Wednesday read out the name of Dean

Greyling at loosehead prop when he announced his side for the Lions game.

“Gurthrö is definitely our leading loosehead and it’s a major blow to lose him, but that is how it goes in rugby. Fortunately Dean recovered well after his injury and we know he will do his bit,” said Ludeke.

Greyling’s performances in last year’s Currie Cup made him part of the Springboks’ greater training squad. And “Wors”, as he is known here, will surely want to grab his first opportunity in Super Rugby this year to keep his interest in the national set-up alive.

Jaco van der Westhuyzen will play fullback if Zane Kirchner does not recover from a shoulder injury by Friday. The veteran backline player has not seen any action yet this year.

Teams
Bulls: 15. Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Jaco Pretoruis, 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 (c), 4. Bakkies Botha, 3. Werner Kruger, 2. Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1. Dean Greyling

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

Lions:
TBA