The Vodacom Bulls will kick off the Round 13 action of the United Rugby Championship on Friday night with the Pretoria side going up against the Scarlets at Scarlets Parc Y Scarlets, Llanelli at 21:35 (SA Time).
The Vodacom Bulls, who are currently in third place on the log behind Leinster and the DHL Stormers with 39 points, will look to kick on from their victory against the Dragons away in their last outing, and the fact that the Scarlets have won only three of their 12 matches this season will boost their confidence.
The visitors, however, will be wary of the fact that two of the home side’s three victories were in Llanelli, while they also registered a draw on their home patch in the opening match of the competition. Adding to this the Scarlets come off a morale-boosting away win in their last Vodacom URC outing against Cardiff.
This will be the second time the two sides meet and the Welsh side are looking to bounce back from back-to-back league defeats whilst the visiting Vodacom Bulls will be looking to make it two wins from two in the United Rugby Championship competition.
The Vodacom Bulls have been more effective on attack and defence, and they will have the extra motivation of staying ahead of Ulster and Glasgow on the standings, who have the luxury of a game in hand.
Prediction: Vodacom Bulls by 3
Aaron Shingler takes over the captain’s armband as the Scarlets return to the United Rugby Championship action.
With Jonathan Davies ruled out with a calf injury and Ken Owens in international camp with Wales, Shingler leads a side showing six personnel changes from last weekend’s EPCR Challenge Cup win in Bayonne.
Leigh Halfpenny is one of five Scarlets on Wales duty so Johnny McNicholl moves to full-back, Steff Evans switches to right-wing and Ryan Conbeer returns on the left.
Ioan Nicholas comes in for the skipper at inside centre to partner Joe Roberts in midfield, while the half-backs are unchanged with Gareth Davies and Sam Costelow continuing at nine and ten.
There is an all-new front row of Kemsley Mathias, Daf Hughes and Sam Wainwright, who will make his first Scarlets start, Vaea Fifita and Sam Lousi are again named in the second row, while in the back row, Sione Kalamafoni gets the nod at No.8 in place of Carwyn Tuipulotu, who is included among the replacements.
Steff Thomas, Taylor Davies, Harri O’Connor, Dane Blacker and Dan Jones come onto the bench, as does 20-year-old centre Eddie James, who will make his URC debut if he takes the field.
Head coach Dwayne Peel said: “We are delighted to have topped our Challenge Cup pool, but now it’s about turning our focus to four tough URC matches, starting with the Bulls on Friday night. They bring a lot of physicality, especially up front and have a set-piece that can go after you and wheels on the edge as well. They are a top-four side so it is a good challenge for us.”
Chris Smith and Johan Goosen will start for the Vodacom Bulls, with Stravino Jacobs and Jan-Hendrick Wessels returning to the matchday 23.
Ruan Nortje (lock) returns to lead the side which sees Gerhard Steenekamp, Johann Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith combine as the front-row trio, with Ruan Vermaak joining his skipper in the second row. The back row will have Marco van Staden, Cyle Brink and Elrigh Louw adding power to the forwards pack.
In the backline, Springbok duo Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie have been given rest which sees Stravino Jacobs return to left-wing whilst Johan Goosen slots in at fullback with Zak burger at scrumhalf. Harold Vorster and Lionel Mapoe combine as the centre pairing with David Kriel slotting in at right wing.
The Pretoria outfit will have Jan-Hendrick Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Francois Klopper, Janko Swanepoel, Nizaam Carr, Embrose Papier, Cornal Hendricks and Wandisile Simelane ready to come on from the bench.
Chris Rossouw - Vodacom Bulls Backline coach - said the combination of Smith and Goosen allows the side to exploit the double-kicking options. Rossouw also highlighted the importance of confidence going into the fixture against a Scarlets side with balance and confidence.
“Looking over the last month, I think we are high in the confidence bar last week. Against the Dragons, at the back of the Stormers and the Sharks, the guys bounced back and they were great on the evening in how they managed the game with great energy and confidence. We obviously took that to Exeter and last week we slipped but I thought it was a great learning curve for many of us who were in France for the first time,”
“We all know Scarlets are on high at the moment, but saying that, there is nice energy at our camp and it’s almost like a change of season for us as well,”
“Confidence will be important but obviously execution and being clinical on the night will be more important.”
Rossouw went on to say: “Scarlets are known as a team that attacks a lot. What they have done over the last two months is to find a balance between their attacking and kicking game, and how we manage that will be crucial for us and make sure we do not get pinned in our own half,”
“They have a great pack of forwards and an experienced backline, that remains one of their strengths so it is important for us to manage the kicking game as a whole,”
Asked about physicality and managing that against Scarlets, the backline coach responded: “We all know it starts there, we will need to be physical and look to dominate the collisions to have any momentum. For us it will be one of the focus points. We know they have some good runners and we also know their big boys have the ability to offload in tackles, so we need to make sure we identify those and look to limit those opportunities through our tackle techniques,”
“We will need to bring the physicality that we know the South African boys can bring” he concluded.
Teams:
Scarlets RFC: 15. Johnny McNicholl, 14. Steff Evans, 13. Joe Roberts, 12. Ioan Nicholas, 11. Ryan Conbeer, 10. Sam Costelow, 9. Gareth Davies, 8. Sione Kalamafoni, 7. Dan Davis, 6. Aaron Shingler (c), 5. Sam Lousi, 4. Vaea Fifita, 3. Sam Wainwright, 2. Daf Hughes, 1. Kemsley Mathias. Replacements: 16. Taylor Davies, 17. Steff Thomas, 18. Harri O’Connor, 19. Morgan Jones, 20. Carwyn Tuipulotu, 21. Dane Blacker, 22. Dan Jones, 23 Eddie James.
Vodacom Bulls: 15. Johan Goosen, 14. David Kriel, 13. Lionel Mapoe, 12. Harold Vorster, 11. Stravino Jacobs, 10. Chris Smith, 9. Zak Burger, 8. Elrigh Louw, 7. Cyle Brink, 6. Marco van Staden, 5. Ruan Nortje (c), 4. Ruan Vermaak, 3. Mornay Smith, 2. Johann Grobbelaar, 1. Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16. Jan-Hendrick Wessels, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Francois Klopper, 19. Janko Swanepoel, 20. Nizaam Carr, 21. Embrose Papier, 22. Cornal Hendricks, 23. Wandisile Simelane.
