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Ludeke: We need to work hard to get points

Johannesburg - Facing one of the best defensive sides in Super Rugby, Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said it would take a special effort to score points against the Chiefs in Rotorua on Friday.

Kick-off is at 09:35.

"They (the Chiefs) are a quality side and they are definitely one of the contenders again this season and they bring an intensity to the breakdown and work rate. They have only conceded 17 tries and that is an indication of how they defend their line,” Ludeke said during a teleconference call from New Zealand.

“We know we need to work hard this weekend to get the points on the board and there are obviously some areas that we can capitalise on, but it will be a tough contest.”

Ludeke made three changes to his run-on side for the match with Springbok hooker Adriaan Strauss taking a well-deserved rest with Callie Visagie receiving a starting spot.

Strauss is rested as per the agreement with SARU to rest top Springboks for periods during the Super Rugby season.

Ludeke reshuffled his loose trio with Deon Stegmann and Jacques du Plessis moving into the starting XV in a straight swap with Lappies Labuschagne and Arno Botha, respectively.

Although Ludeke said the changes at loose forward were purely rotational, he hoped Stegmann and Du Plessis would add another dimension at the breakdown.

The Bulls mentor identified the breakdown as a facet the Chiefs would pose a threat to his side with Sam Cane spearheading their charge at ruck time.

“It is only rotational (the loose trio reshuffle), we’ve got some quality players and we want to make sure we keep them all alive,” Ludeke explained.

“We also believe that it is the right combination for the weekend, they have a strong rush on the gain line and with the tempo they bring to the breakdown.”

A defeat to the Chiefs could see the Bulls lose their top spot in the South African Conference to the Stormers who are a point adrift on the overall log.

Ludeke said his side needed to be accurate on Friday if they wanted to score a victory over the Chiefs and stay in the playoff race.

“We've had so many opportunities and we didn’t convert a lot of them after we squeezed them (the Blues) into turnovers and we created opportunities to score tries,” he said.

“We felt that we lost against ourselves thanks to pure execution and credit to them (the Blues), their confidence was building by stopping the maul and not allowing us to get over the line.

“We can say a lot but our execution wasn’t good enough for our standards we felt that we let ourselves down and we hope to bounce back this weekend.”

Teams:

Chiefs

TBA

Bulls

15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Flip van de Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Trevor Nyakane

Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Werner Kruger, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Lappies Labuschagne, 21 Burger Odendaal, 22 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 23 Travis Ismaiel


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