The Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby made several changes to his line-up that will face Edinburg tonight at 21:35. Jake White said most of the changes are rotational as they face a rough month when they return home.
“It’s just normal rotation. Next week we have Connacht, then Saracens and then the Sharks await, so we have a rough month ahead of us, so we would like to keep guys fresh and also give guys opportunity because they have trained hard in the pre-season,”
“We have been very fortunate that we have played 32 of the 33 players who we have here on tour and that is great because we also have to make sure that all our guys are match-ready. We need to keep them fresh and it’s controlling what we can from our camp.”
Asked about topping the URC log after four matches, White said there is a lot for his side that is on offer. An opportunity for the Vodacom Bulls to remain at the top of the log after five rounds.
“It is nice to be top of the log but as I have said before, we have to learn from the past. Munster/Ulster were nowhere after five rounds last season, the Stormers were nowhere after round 5 in year one of the competition. It is still early days so it is not a given that you will be there at the back end of the competition if you are at the top in the early parts of the competition,”
“But it is nice, it is nice that we are there and we are there at the end of our tour and we have gotten there rotating our squad too.”
On expectations against Edinburgh White said: “I am expecting a very tough game with 13 Scottish internationals in their starting XV, they have massive amounts of experience. The return of Jamie Ritchie will also be a massive boost for them who has been away after the World Cup. They are generally always there or thereabout in the top eight, they are not a team that surprises everybody by finishing in the top part of the draw,”
“It’s going to be a tough game for us considering we are into our fourth week of the tour which is always tough because people start making plans about going back to South Africa. So there are a lot of things we are going to have to make sure we get right tomorrow.”