Cape Town - Sometimes having an overflow of riches becomes difficult to manage, and that may be the case with the Bulls and their contingent of loose forwards in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
While teams can never have enough depth, the big games require the best possible starting XV and replacements to be selected.
And following the Bulls’ disappointing 35-21 loss to Glasgow last week, coach Jake White will want to avoid a repeat in Saturday’s clash against Munster at Thomond Park in Limerick (8.35pm kick-off).
But assistant coach Chris Rossouw stated earlier this week that player rotation is also part of the plan, and that “one thing he (White) made clear is that if there are any changes made, it is not in reference to the game and what happened last week (against Glasgow)”.
So, one of those selections that could be tweaked for the Munster encounter – White will name his team tomorrow – is in the loose trio, where there are essentially two ‘fetchers’ in Marcell Coetzee and Marco van Staden, while Elrigh Louw is at No 8 when he could be even more effective as a blindside flank.
White was at pains to explain last week ahead of the Glasgow match that he doesn’t see it as an issue as “the number on their back is irrelevant”.
The former Bok coach felt that the roles of the loose forwards are interchangeable, and that it was only really at the scrums where the three players had to pack down in a specific position.
“It’s not the number, but the actions that you have. Elrigh carries really well off the back of the scrum. He is quick and dynamic, and gives us an added value there if you want to play off the back of the scrum,” White said.
“Marcell and Marco are very hard on the ball, and sometimes having Marcell on the other side of the scrum and leaving Marco to go to the first breakdown opens Marcell for the second breakdown, and that is also a win.
“So, maybe if you have them too close together, eight and six, from scrums or line-outs, sometimes you might have too much over the ball, and that creates width (problems) in your defence.”
But it just appears as if that last point is affecting the Bulls in recent weeks, as Coetzee and Van Staden may be getting in each other’s way at the breakdowns and in general play, as they have similar running lines and roles.
Moving Coetzee to No 8 and Louw to No 7, with Van Staden at No 6, is one solution, but in the name of rotation, another option is to reintroduce Ruan Vermaak – who did a solid job at blindside in the first two games – against Munster to provide better balance.
Vermaak is a strong ball-carrier who operates as a pure No 7, compared to Van Staden, who plays like an opensider – towards the ball – and he could team up with Coetzee and Louw in Limerick.
With captain Coetzee leaving Pretoria for a sabbatical in Japan at the end of October, the Bulls need him to be the main fetcher against Munster, Benetton next week and against the Sharks on October 30.
Then Van Staden can take over at No 6 for the rest of the season, or until Coetzee arrives back from Japan sometime next year.
@AshfakMohamed