A change of venue may make the trip up north for the Vodacom Bulls a lot more palatable.
The news that their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match has been shifted to Murrayfield because of renovations to Glasgow Warriors’ Scotstoun stadium for the Commonwealth Games is one that the Bulls will be happy to take on.
The move means that there is no 4G artificial pitch to play on - something that is not a favourite of SA players, who complain about the pitch and the injuries that it seemingly brings whenever they play on it.
And given the Bulls have played Glasgow twice this season, and lost both games, this weekend’s one will be a chance to set the record straight against Franco Smith’s side that finished top of the URC table.
There is no doubt the Bulls are a very different side than the one that lost in Round five in October last year to Glasgow, and just as different to the one that narrowly lost 25-21 in the Round of 16 in the Investec Champions’ Cup in April.
Both were games the Bulls felt they could have won, and should have done better, and that is something they will look to rectify this weekend.
BULLS HAVE TURNED SEASON AROUND
The side have turned their season around in incredible fashion, going from a seven game losing streak late last year (the Round five loss was one of those) to winning 10 out of their last 11 games and crushed Irish side Munster 45-14 this past weekend to book their place in the semis.
With a number of senior players back from injury as well and form guiding them, they will board the plane confident of upsetting the odds when they get to Murrayfield.
What effect
Murrayfield will have on the Glasgow players waits to be seen, but with almost the entire side playing for Scotland and the national side’s home being at the iconic stadium, they will be very used to the stadium and atmosphere of the game.
Still, these games are decided by small margins and the Bulls will look to the change as a little victory ahead of their departure
And coachJohan Ackermann is convinced his side are due for a win against Smith’s charges.“In the Champions Cup match, we made mistakes which they clinically exploited," said Ackermann after the game against Munster. “But in theURC game, they got a penalty try that swung the momentum, and it was clear in the review that it shouldn’t have been a penalty try. I was unhappy that technology wasn’t used to make a big call.
“Hopefully,we won’t get to that scenario in the semi-final. If they’re the better team, they deserve to win, and the other way around.
NICE CHALLENGE
“It’s a nice challenge. We’ve lost twice against them, and now we get the opportunity to play them again, but this time at a different venue.”
The Bulls did lose winger Sergeal Petersen to a shoulder injury in the game, but that was offset by the news that Cheswill Jooste, the SA under-20 flyer, should be fit and ready to make the trip up north.
“Cheswill is almost ready, so hopefully by Monday he can train with us and be an option, especially now with Sergeal out. That has been one area where we’ve just scraped through the whole season. If one winger is out, another one goes down. ”Ackermann was referring to losing regular starter Sebastian de Klerk for the season, while Kurt-Lee Arendse and Stravino Jacobs both only recently returned to fitness after injuries kept them out as well.
And despite the victory and the momentum the Bulls have created, Ackermann still feels they can do better.
SILLY OFFLOADS
“There were some silly offloads, and there were some great ones, so we have to cut out those silly ones because Glasgow are so clinical,” he said.
“They defend very well. They don’t make it easy for you, so our patience with the ball obviously has to improve.It sounds arrogant because of the score, but we have to perform even better because Glasgow will punish us if we make the same mistakes. They’re just an all-round highly skilled attacking team.”Both sides will know what to expect when they take the field on Saturday. Whether the Bulls have improved enough, and learnt enough from their last two outings waits to be seen.