'Players must be carefully managed,' Bulls coach Ackermann says of revamped team for Saints

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.

“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.

“Kade is a natural 10 — that is his position. He’s trained well, he’s settled in with how we want to play, and he’s now had a few weeks with us,” he said.

“He’s played at a high level before, so it’s not like we’re throwing in a young guy for the first time. This is his opportunity, and we want to see how he goes against one of the best teams.

“Kade gets his chance now, and Keagan must keep challenging — and he will get opportunities again.”

Ackermann conceded that defence remains a major concern. The Bulls have conceded 34 tries in seven matches this season.

“Defence is a big thing for us,” Ackermann agreed. “Our defensive record this season is not good enough. We are well aware of it. Nobody goes out to miss a tackle on purpose. We keep talking about defence as a group.”

The Bulls missed 25 tackles against Bordeaux, but Ackermann says it is more complex than tackles simply being missed.

“If you look at that second half against Bordeaux, for about 20 minutes, we couldn’t exit our half. We gave away penalties, lost breakdowns, they kicked to the corner, we held them up over the line, then we kicked and conceded another penalty,” he explained.

“If you give one of the top teams constant entries into your 22, you’re going to concede somewhere.

“You can only afford to make so many mistakes. The obvious thing is the tries — we’re leaking close to five tries a game, and that’s not good enough. Any decent coach will tell you that.

“But if we don’t fix the other things —  discipline, exits, breakdowns and positioning — we’re going to make life tough for ourselves.”

Bulls team for Northampton

15 Devon Williams, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Marcell Coetzee (capt), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Alu Tshakweni.

Bench: 16 Juann Else, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Khuta Mchunu, 19 Mpilo Gumede, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Keagan Johannes, 23 PA van Niekerk.