Cape Town — When the Bulls did the "impossible" and beat Leinster in Dublin last season, Johan Grobbelaar was one of their stand-out players.
The No 2 earned a nine in our ratings, which was only matched by captain Marcell Coetzee on that Friday night in June.
“The Bulls hooker was outstanding all around the field. He found his lineout jumpers on most occasions, was a willing ball-carrier and scored a try. But it was his breakdown work that stood out as he won a number of penalties and virtually stopped Leinster from playing,” read our description of his contribution.
Well, coach Jake White will be hoping for a similar performance from Grobbelaar in Sunday’s Champions Cup last-16 clash against Toulouse (4pm SA time kick-off).
The French giants are as big favourites as Leinster were in that URC semi-final — perhaps even more so as the Pretoria team have lost their last eight encounters across all competitions.
Despite the current state of affairs, Grobbelaar feels they can’t be written off entirely.
“It’s not at a very good point in the season for us with all these losses, and we haven’t been at our best. But I think in the last game against Ulster (32-23 defeat), we started to get some momentum back,” the 25-year-old front-rower told IOL Sport from the southern French city on Friday.
“Hopefully we can take that into this weekend and improve even further. We don’t look like a good team, but I still believe we are a good team. If we can just find our rhythm and potential again, then we actually have a good chance this weekend. It’s not that we are all down in the dumps… We do believe that we can surprise them.
“Looking back to last year (against Leinster), we surprised everyone with that win, and we can definitely do it again. We are definitely the underdogs… Toulouse are a great side, and it’s great being in this town and measuring yourself against the best in the world.
“A lot of international players [are] playing for them, so it will be close to a Test match. It’s a big opportunity to measure ourselves to see where we stand in the Champions Cup.
“There will always be a lot of critics and a lot of opinions from outside, but I think the most important thing is that the 15 guys on the field and the 23-man squad, if they can just believe that they can win, then that’s the most important thing.”
Another massive performance could also aid Grobbelaar’s Springbok ambitions in a World Cup year, although he is not worried about that too much.
But he will be up against world-class French hooker Julien Marchand, so a commanding display might just make Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber sit up and take notice.
“Individually, it’s also a great opportunity to measure myself against one of the best in the world. I have a lot of respect for him (Marchand) — he is a very good player, so I am looking forward to the opportunity,” Grobbelaar said.
“They play typical French rugby, with a lot of offloads and tipping the ball and moving the ball around between the guys.
“That’s one thing we have to stop: getting in some good double hits and stop the offloads. Then also, they have a massive pack, big runners on the ball. So, we are going to have to get back to stop their momentum.
“For me personally, I won’t say I think too much about that (Bok selection). It’s something that you always work towards, but at this stage, I am just focusing on every weekend and the game, and to play well for the Bulls.
“We want to give our best every weekend, and if we can win, whatever happens after that is out of my hands. But hopefully I am still in the picture, so we will see what happens later this year.”
IOL Sport