Bulls set to go ‘full Bok’ on their United Rugby Championship tour

Bulls boss Jake White seems to have won the ‘tug-of-war’ with the Springbok management about utilising all of the franchise’s Test players on their impending United Rugby Championship tour.

The Pretoria side listed a 34-man squad on their social media channels on Tuesday – and then deleted it after a while – for their three-match trip to Wales and Italy, starting with Saturday’s clash against the Ospreys in Swansea (kick-off 8.35pm).

White said after the past weekend’s 47-21 win over Ulster at Loftus Versfeld that he wished to pick all his fit Boks for the overseas games, but was waiting for a meeting between Bulls CEO Edgar Rathbone and the Bok coaches this week to finalise which players would be able to travel.

The tricky situation arises from the fact that after the Bulls tour, the world champions will then make their way to the UK for Tests against Scotland, England and Wales from November 10.

Immediately after that, the Bulls face Connacht in the URC on November 30 in Galway, and then they will make their way to London to take on Saracens in the Champions Cup seven days later.

All of Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Elrigh Louw, Ruan Nortjé, Johan Grobbelaar, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Gerhard Steenekamp have been selected for the Bulls tour. It was unclear why Van Staden was omitted, but considering what White said about young families, the openside flank does have a one-year-old daughter that he can now spend some time with before the Bok tour in November.

Having all the current Test players – as well as possible November tourists in Cameron Hanekom and Wilco Louw – will benefit both the Bulls and the national team.

While some of them could have done with a breather and missed the Ulster game – Arendse and Nortjé in particular come to mind – the star contingent can’t go into the Bok tour cold, with the last Test having been on September 28 against Argentina in Mbombela. Having only lost twice this year – to Ireland and Argentina – Bok coach Rassie Erasmus hopes to maintain that record and remain unbeaten against Scotland, England and Wales, while also continuing to spread the net wide and provide game time to newer faces in the squad.

But it’s also important for the Bulls to get their ‘pound of flesh’ from their Boks on this trip. Only Arendse and Nortjé have been regular Bok starters this year, with Louw and Steenekamp playing mainly off the bench. The other Boks haven’t had much game time at international level this year, and should therefore help the Bulls maintain their unbeaten start to the URC over the next three weeks.

In addition, Arendse is joining Japanese club Sagamihara Dynaboars on a sabbatical after the Bok tour, so these are his last few appearances for the Bulls until next May, when he will return to Pretoria.

Bulls Tour Squad

Backs: Willie le Roux, Henry Immelman; Kurt-Lee Arendse, Sebastian de Klerk, Aphiwe Dyantyi; Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Stedman Gans; Jaco van der Walt, Boeta Chamberlain, Chris Barend Smit; Embrose Papier, Keagan Johannes, Zak Burger Forwards: Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw (co-captain), Marcell Coetzee, Mpilo Gumede, Nama Xaba, Sintu Manjezi; Ruan Vermaak, Ruan Nortjé (co-captain), Cobus Wiese, Reinhard Ludwig, JF van Heerden; Wilco Louw, Francois Klopper, Mornay Smith; Johan Grobbelaar, Akker van der Merwe, Jan-Hendrik Wessels; Gerhard Steenekamp, Dylan Smith, Alulutho Tshakweni