Cape Town - Springbok prop Trevor Nyakane needs to improve his fitness if he is to get a chance in the Bulls squad, coach John Mitchell has indicated.
Nyakane started in the Bulls’ warm-up game against the Jaguares earlier this month but was not included in their 23-man squad for Saturday’s Super Rugby opener against the Hurricanes at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
Mitchell picked Frans van Wyk (tighthead) and Pierre Schoeman (loosehead) as his two starting props, with Lizo Gqoboka and Conraad van Vuuren providing cover on the bench.
The 37-Test capped Nyakane, who was shifted from loosehead to tighthead last year, will have to hit the gym hard over the next few weeks if he is to regain his spot.
“Trevor’s not far away. It really depends upon himself, the programme might change. He will probably be (back after) one week, maybe two, but it really depends on what he does in the next two weeks,” Mitchell said at a press conference in Pretoria on Thursday, as quoted by Netwerk24.
Mitchell added: “Clearly if there is an injury, then it becomes a different plan. He (Nyakane) is going well. He has the ability to play both sides of the scrum and we’ve got some healthy competition within the group. The guys realise that it comes down to what you do as opposed to what you have done in the past.”
Saturday’s Bulls v Hurricanes clash kicks off at 17:15.
Teams:
Bulls
15 Divan Rossouw 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger
Odendaal (captain), 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Andre Warner, 8
Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4
RG Snyman, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Substitutes:
16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Nic de
Jager, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23
Duncan Matthews
Hurricanes
15 Matt Proctor, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Vince Aso, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Wes Goosen, 10 Ihaia West, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields (captain), 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Vaea Fifita, 3 Ben May, 2 Ricky Ricctelli, 1 Toby Smith
Substitutes: 16 James O'Reilly, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 Murray Douglas, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ben Lam