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Pretoria - Of the three Super 14 medals in possession, two were earned in the frontrow which is why Bulls coach Frans Ludeke is confident that Derick Kuun can revert to playing hooker when they take on the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Friday.
“Derick is our third choice hooker, at the moment he can play there,” Ludeke said at the team announcement on Tuesday.
“Although he prefers playing open side, he’s a team player and in 2009 (and 2007) he was the hooker when we won the competition and he was fine so we have confidence to pick him there again.”
The Bulls made only two changes to their starting line-up after last week’s 24-20 win over the Lions with Springbok Chiliboy Ralepelle promoted from the bench – prompting the move to get Kuun in as back-up -- in the place of the injured Gary Botha who is expected to be back a week sooner than originally thought.
“The chances are good that Gary will be back next week,” said Ludeke.
Experienced centre Jaco Pretorius is also back in the team after recovering from a lower back injury.
In light of the below par performance the Cheetahs delivered at scrum-time last week, the men from Pretoria are anticipating a significant improvement from their hosts who they feel are always tough at the set-piece.
“We have respect for their scrum, they have a good pack of forwards and anything can happen,” said Ludeke.
“For us it is a matter of taking it game by game and we know that it will be a tough contest as it will be in many other aspects of the game.”
Other threats identified by skipper Victor Matfield has to do with the brand of rugby the Free State side plays, although he said his men are ready for whatever they may dish-up on the day.
“They always take pride in their set-pieces and really focus on that, and then they play with a lot of width against us and get guys in channels, which can put pressure on our defence,” said Matfield.
“But we have been working on that in training and hopefully it will work for us and we can face their attack.”
Another advantage the Cheetahs have is their recently acquired lineout lock Wilhelm Steenkamp who learnt his trade from the lineout specialist himself.
Matfield said it will be an interesting battle.
“He (Steenkamp) knows our systems very well and has put in a lot of work with Johann van Graan (forwards coach) and I with lineout work so it is going to be difficult because he knows how we think,” said Matfield.
“Hopefully we’ll also know what’s going through his mind and I see that he makes the calls there so it’s going to be interesting as he is someone who is precise on his lineout work and puts in a lot of work before the game.
Team:
Zane Kirchner, Gerhard van den Heever, Jaco Pretious, Wynand Olivier, Bjorn Basson, Morne Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Dewald Potgieter, Deon Stegmann, Victor Matfield (c), Bakkies Botha, Werner Kruger, Chiloboy Ralepelle, Gurthro Steenkamp. Bench: Derick Kuun, Rossouw de Klerk, Flip van der Merwe, Danie Rossouw, Ruan Snyman, Francois Brummer, Stephan Dippenaar.
