Johannesburg - The Vodacom Bulls have pulled off another coup, hitting the “Jackpot” by bringing Jacques Potgieter back home to Pretoria.
According to the SuperSport, Potgieter, who moved to the Bulls from the EP Kings a few years ago, and then left to play in Japan, became a cult hero at the Waratahs in Sydney and then returned to South Africa for the Sharks, has signed a two-year contract with the Bulls and will be immediately available for the remainder of their Vodacom Super Rugby campaign.
The Bulls are set to make the announcement later on Wednesday, along with the signing of Jacobie Adriaanse from the EP Kings, as they look to bolster their young squad for the rest of the season.
Potgieter was a keen spectator at the Bulls practice session on Tuesday, although he laughed when asked if it meant he was returning to Pretoria.
It later emerged he had come for a medical scan on his injured ankle, a requirement the Bulls demanded before going ahead with the contract.
Potgieter has a week of rehab still ahead of him, but will join the Bulls immediately, and is then likely to be used in one or two of the Currie Cup qualifying games before joining up with the squad after the June test break.
With his acquisition, the Bulls now have two very big ball carriers to take them into the final rounds of the competition, with Renaldo Bothma likely to be part of match 23 after also being released by the Sharks a few weeks ago to join the Bulls.
Potgieter’s reasons for returning to Pretoria are not completely for rugby reasons, as he is getting married to actress Angelique Gerber in a few weeks’ time and possibly decided to be closer to her work, especially after the Sharks didn’t look like they would use him much after he returned from injury.
Adriaanse is an interesting move in itself, as the Bulls want to strengthen their scrum and have been looking for a tighthead since it was announced that Marcel van der Merwe was heading to Toulon at the end of the season.
With a dearth of available tightheads in the country at the moment, the Kings’ prop, who is the brother of Springbok Lourens, has a good scrumming pedigree and is sure to strengthen the Bulls scrum.