Bulls coach Nollis Marais says their brief tour of Zimbabwe was successful in spite of their 28-10 defeat at the hands of the Cheetahs in their pre-season friendly on Saturday.
Marais fielded a watered down team from the one to face the Lions this week in the Bulls’ final preparation match for the upcoming Super Rugby season, but stated that their goal of team cohesion and building depth was achieved.
As much as the Bulls failed to make an impression in the stop-start first half of the encounter, they were able to restore some pride in the second half when they brought on some much-needed and experienced players off the bench.
“I’m disappointed with the result but we were able to see how far the guys are in terms of what we are trying to achieve. It is important for us to build depth for our squad going forward and I really wanted to give guys a proper chance at playing. Many of the guys had not played during the Currie Cup because of injuries and a lack of game time but came through nicely,” Marais says.
The Cheetahs may have controlled the game for the better part of the first half with captain Reniel Hugo scoring two tries but Marais is still satisfied with the effort some of his frontline players put in during the 80 minutes.
There had been a good deal of focus on how new Bulls prop Lizo Gqoboka would shape up, and also on captain Marvin Orie and Springbok scrumhalf Piet van Zyl who missed out on last season because of an ankle injury.
“I must say I was happy with the way the guys applied themselves. It is not easy for them to get off the training field and for things to immediately work in the way we had planned,” said Marais.
“Lizo really tried and I believe with the likes of Trevor (Nyakane) and Adriaan (Strauss) will produce an even better performance. Piet did very well for a guy who had not played for so long and will do well with more game time and a better understanding of what we want to do. I’m happy with Marvin and the way in which he led the team and, like everyone else, he will need to get more time on the park.”
More than just looking at individuals, testing their depth and building team unity, Marais insisted on patience being handed to his players so they can fully equip themselves to the new way the Bulls want to play.
However, the coach will be hard-pressed to play the remainder of his squad, more especially the starting team, in their game against the Lions in Polokwane on Saturday with Strauss certain to lead the side.
“I have to give the rest of the guys in the squad some time on the field. I don’t like to say this but I will have to select my best 23 for this game in order to give everyone a run before we make the final decision on selections ahead of our first Super Rugby game of the season against the Stormers. I don’t believe there is much difference between the players but it is important everyone gets a run.” - The Star