The Vodacom Bulls are the second South African team in the fourth round when they take on Cardiff at the Cardiff Arms Parkison Friday night at 21:35 (SA Time).
Cardiff’s only victory in their last six Vodacom URC matches at their home ground was by 30-13 against Benetton in February, something that will give the visitors from Pretoria a bit of confidence.
The Vodacom Bulls also seem to enjoy facing Welsh regions as they have lost only one of their nine previous matches against teams from the Principality, in Llanelli in January, while Jake White’s team won 29-19 on their only previous visit to Cardiff Arms Park, in October 2021.
Loose forward, Celimpilo ‘Mpilo’ Gumede has been handed his debut for the Vodacom Bulls this weekend. Gumede, a former SA Schools and Junior Bok, will start at eight, bringing his explosive game to the pack that is led by an unchanged front row with Nizaam Carr captaining the side in their fourth round 2023/24 Vodacom United Rugby Championship outing.
Carr will start at blindside flank whilst Cyle Brink will be on the openside with the duo of Reinhardt Ludwig and Janko Swanepoel completing the second row as the lock pairing. Embrose Papier (scrumhalf) and Chris Smith (flyhalf) will direct traffic flow at halfback with an unchanged backline behind them.
Director of Rugby, Jake White has gone with a 6-2 bench split which will see Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Mornay Smith, Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom sit on standby for forward pack duty with Keagan Johannes and Johan Goosen the optional backline picks on the waiting list for duty.
Speaking about their opponents this week, the Vodacom Bulls director of rugby said: “They have a new coach with Dai Young having left but their new head coach has been with the club and knows the players. One thing we do know is that they play on a 4G pitch and they caught us on the tempo of the game the last time we were here and I must say that the opening 20 minutes was very quick so I am sure it will be the same this time around,”
“There could be an element of surprise in that there is a new group of players and new coaches but I do know Welsh rugby and the style of play so I do not think they will go too far away from what they know and which has been part of their DNA for a long time.”
Willis Halaholo will make his 100th appearance for Cardiff as four Wales stars return for Friday’s United Rugby Championship clash with Vodacom Bulls. Corey Domachowski, Teddy Williams, Tomos Williams and Mason Grady also come into the starting line-up after featuring for Wales against the Barbarians last weekend.
Cardiff Rugby head coach, Matt Sherratt said:“The Bulls are a quality outfit with an obvious power game but they also have threats all over the pitch, which we will need to negate. However, we are looking forward to the challenge and a return to Friday night rugby at Cardiff Arms Park.”
Teams:
Vodacom Bulls: 1. Simphiwe Matanzima, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Reinhardt Ludwig, 5. Janko Swanepoel, 6. Nizaam Carr (c), 7. Cyle Brink, 8. Mpilo Gumede, 9. Embrose Papier, 10. Chris Smith, 11. Sergeal Petersen, 12. David Kriel, 13. Stedman Gans, 14. Sebastian de Klerk, 15. Devon Williams. Replacements: 16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Gerhard Steenekamp, 18. Mornay Smith, 19. Ruan Nortje, 20. Elrigh Louw, 21. Keagan Johannes, 22. Johan Goosen, 24. Cameron Hanekom.
Cardiff Rugby: 1 C Domachowski, 2 E Daniel, 3 R Litterick, 4 T Williams, 5 R Thornton, 6 A Mann, 7 E Jenkins (c), 8 L Timani, 9 T Williams, 10 T de Beer, 11 M Grady, 12 W Halaholo, 13 R Lee-Lo, 14 H Millard, 15 J Beetham. Replacements: 16 E Lloyd, 17 R Carré, 18 W Davies-King, 19 S Davies, 20 T Young, 21 E Bevan, 22 A Robson, 23 C Winnett.