The Bulls have picked their best-possible team for their URC final against Leinster at Croke Park on Friday (kick-off 8.30pm), replete with 11 Springboks in the starting line-up and five more on the bench.
The Pretoria side is hoping to win their first United Rugby Championship final, on their fourth attempt, at the same venue and against the same opponents that they lost to last year.
They have opted for experience to do this, preferring tried-and-tested players over explosive youngsters such as Cheswill Jooste.
Trophy-winning Boks on Bulls roster
From Willie le Roux at fullback, orchestrating and anticipating, to Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie out wide, the Bulls have strike power that can punish even the smallest lapse. Inside them, Harold Vorster provides the directness, the hard edge, the ability to win collisions that matter in a final.
URC SA player of the year Embrose Papier and Bok ace Handré Pollard dictate terms at nine and 10 respectively, in a game where territory, scoreboard pressure and compsure are crucial.
The Bulls have selected a pack to take the fight to Leinster.
Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Francois Klopper form a front row built on scrummaging solidity. Behind them, Ruan Nortjé and Ruan Vermaak bring steel and work rate, players who understand that finals are won in the unseen exchanges.
And then the loose trio: Marcell Coetzee (captain), Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom.
It is difficult to assemble a more combative, confrontational combination. Coetzee leads not through words, but through actions that accumulate: tackle after tackle, ruck after ruck. Louw brings carrying power, Hanekom brings dynamism.
Together, they face one of the hardest jobs in club rugby: stopping Leinster at source.
The bench reinforces the theme. Springboks Marco van Staden and Wilco Louw ensure that when the game tightens, the Bulls can increase the intensity rather than defend it.
Bulls team to face Leinster
Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Harold Vorster, Stravino Jacobs, Handré Pollard, Embrose Papier, Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, Marcell Coetzee (capt), Ruan Nortjé, Ruan Vermaak, Francois Klopper, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements
Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Wilco Louw, Cobus Wiese, Jeandré Rudolph, Zak Burger, Stedman Gans, Nizaam Carr.
