Bulls boosted by fresh players ahead of URC derby with Lions at Ellis Park

The Bulls returned from Edinburgh in high spirits but battered and bruised after physical battles in Scotland and France. However, good news awaited coach Johan Ackermann on the injury front.

Several Springboks that were left at home to recuperate while the team beat Pau and Edinburgh are ready for this week’s visit to Ellis Park for the URC derby with the Lions.

Hooker Akker van der Merwe should be over a neck spasm; loose forward Elrigh Louw has recovered from a buttock muscle injury; centre/wing Canan Moodie has served his step-down time from a concussion, and utility forward Cobus Wiese will rejoin his teammates after enjoying paternity leave for the birth of his child.

Prop Gerhard Steenekamp has been nursing a thumb injury and is touch-and-go for the Lions match.

In further news, the long-term injured in Jan Serfontein, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, and Cameron Hanekom are expected to be ready for the return match against the Sharks on February 28.

That will be when the URC resumes after the February break for the Six Nations.

The availability of Moodie will be welcomed because the Bulls lost two backs to concussion against Edinburgh in Cheswill Jooste and Sebastian de Klerk.

Coach Johan Ackermann said. “Cheswill and Sebastian picked up head knocks. There will be a compulsory stand-down, so they won’t be available for the Lions game.”

The Bulls have won two games in a row — one in the Champions Cup and the other in the URC — and would love to stretch their winning run at Ellis Park after the Lions beat them last December at Loftus Versfeld. That painful defeat robbed the Bulls of confidence and intensified a horrible losing streak.

“There are a lot of sore bodies, a lot of cuts, bruises, and stitches,” said after beating Edinburgh. “That artificial surface (at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium) took its toll, so recovery is massive for us now.”

And he will be thrilled to get home to good news on the recovery front.