Bulls coach Johan Ackermann says the plan was always to send a freshened-up team to Northampton. Bulls coach Johan Ackermann says the plan was always to send a freshened-up team to Northampton for an away Champions Cup fixture on Sunday because of the demands a 12-month season makes on the players. The Bulls lost in Pretoria to Bordeaux last week to heap pressure on themselves in the premier competition, but Ackermann says that did not tempt him to change the plan and send his strongest possible team to England.
“We have a plan to carefully manage each player, and it is an individual plan for each guy,” Ackermann explained. “Some guys have been away for two months with the Springboks, and we felt it was unfair to send them overseas again.” One such player is Handre Pollard, who has had just two games for the Bulls since his return game for them in October, against Ulster. Pollard has played in just five of the 14 Springbok Tests this year, raising the question of why he needed to be rested for a crucial game against the Saints.
“It was our decision to not play Handre this week (as opposed to Springbok protocols),” Ackermann said. “He has a newborn child. Handre will be back for us next week when we play the Sharks in Durban, and then he will settle in for a run of games.” Ackermann said this week he wants to show faith in the depth of his squad.
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“These (fringe) guys train all the time. At some point, you have to show them that you trust them, and we do,” he said. Replacing Pollard at flyhalf is newcomer to the Bulls, Kade Wolhuter.
Ackermann explained why he had not instead picked the more regular Keagan Johannes. “We still have a lot of faith in Keagan,” he said. “Last season he was moved to 10 because of injuries (mostly to Johan Goosen), but this is his first season where he’s trained properly as a flyhalf and had a full pre-season there. “He’s competing for both nine and 10 in our selection meetings, and we have to be fair to him.
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