Werner Kruger set to earn century of Absa Currie Cup caps
The Vodacom Blue Bulls host DHL Western Province in the feature Absa Currie Cup match on Saturday evening at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.
Three teams are still searching for their first wins after defeats in the previous two rounds of matches and all of them will be in action on Friday evening.
In Kimberley the ORC Griquas host neighbours the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, while the Steval Pumas travel to Port Elizabeth to face the Eastern Province Kings. The Cell C Sharks, meanwhile, are playing at home in Durban on Saturday against the high-flying Xerox Golden Lions.
In the feature match in Pretoria both teams come off back-to-back victories, and with the team’s sporting new coaching staff and young playing personnel, all signs point to another enthralling rugby match between South Africa’s greatest provincial rivals.
The Blue Bulls are currently sitting on top of the log standings thanks to a greater points difference over their Gauteng neighbours, the Xerox Golden Lions. The Pretoria side have scored two bonus-point wins so far and their winning margin has enabled them to climb to the top spot above the Golden Lions and WP (nine points).
The home side will be determined to halt a slide of four consecutive losses against the Cape side going into Saturday’s match. In fact, the pulsating 24-all draw in Cape Town on 10 August 2013 was preceded by their last previous win over WP, which was a 26-13 victory in Pretoria on 5 October 2012. Overall and counting back to 1996 though, the Blue Bulls have a marginal lead over their South rivals with 18 wins, 16 losses and 2 draws from the 36 matches between the provincial heavyweights.
WP coach Paul Dobson on Thursday named Johnny Kotze (22 years old) as replacement for injured skipper Juan de Jongh at outside centre in the only starting change from last weekend’s hard-fought 9-3 win over the Cheetahs in Cape Town. There are also three changes on the bench.
Memorable milestone for Werner Kruger
Blue Bulls front ranker Werner Kruger will achieve a memorable milestone on Saturday in front of the Loftus faithful when he runs out for his 100th match in the blue jersey. In doing so, he will become only the third player to earn 100 Absa Currie Cup caps and a century of Vodacom Super Rugby appearances (113 matches) for his home franchise.
The Cell C Sharks duo of Stefan Terblanche (103 ACC and 105 VSR) and Jacques Botes (129 ACC and 115 VSR) are the only other players who have achieved this milestone.
Kruger made his Vodacom Blue Bulls debut in 2007 as a replacement against the Golden Lions and has been one of the most consistent performers at Loftus since. He played his 100th match for the Vodacom Bulls in April 2014.
Vodacom Blue Bulls coach Nollis Marais named Kruger in a side that showed three changes to the one that beat Griquas a week ago.
“Werner has been a true Blue Bulls stalwart and deserves this unique honour,” Marais said. “He has a wonderful attitude toward life and this team and we are privileged to share such an occasion with Werner. That said, the ball is now in our court to make sure we make it a memorable occasion for him,” Marais added.
Brief profile of Werner Kruger
Birthdate: 23 January 1985
Birth place: Bloemfontein
Primary School: Kruinsig
High School: Jeugland
Position: Prop
Province: Vodacom Blue Bulls
Springbok number: 828
Test debut: 23 July 2011 vs Australia in Sydney aged 26
Total Tests: 4
Total Springbok matches: 5
First class career: Falcons Under-21 (2002), Blue Bulls (Vodacom Cup, 2003), SA Under-21 (2005 and 2006), Blue Bulls (Absa Currie Cup Premier Div 2007), Bulls (Vodacom Super Rugby, 2008,) Emerging Springboks (vs British and Irish Lions, 2009), Springboks (2010, 2011 and 2012).
Meanwhile, Xerox Golden Lions head coach Johan Ackermann has made several changes to his team to front the Cell C Sharks in Durban. He made four changes amongst the forwards and two changes in the backline.
Free State Cheetahs coach Franco Smith was this week forced to make a few changes to the team that went down 9-3 to DHL Western Province at Newlands last week, for their match against the Griquas. Smith had to replace the injured duo of AJ Coertzen (fullback, ankle injury) and Boom Prinsloo (loose forward, jaw injury).
Injuries have forced EP Kings coach Brent Janse van Rensburg to make three changes to the starting line-up for their match against the Steval Pumas in PE on Friday. Two of them are in the backline, with centre Tim Whitehead ruled out with concussion and flyhalf George Whitehead recovering from a knock to the knee.
The Pumas, meanwhile, have made three changes to the side to face the EP Kings. The Mpumalanga side will be looking to bounce back from their 44-27 defeat against the Golden Lions in Johannesburg last weekend. In the corresponding fixture in 2013 the Pumas suffered a narrow 26-25 defeat to the Eastern Cape side.
A brief round-up of other important team news:
ORC Griquas – Coach Hawies Fourie showed faith in the team that gave an encouraging display against the Blue Bulls despite their loss last week and named an unchanged side to face the Free State Cheetahs in Kimberley.
Toyota Free State Cheetahs – Amongst the backs Clayton Blommetjies moves from wing to fullback, replacing the injured Coertzen (ankle injury). This has earned former Junior Springbok and EP Kings player Sergeal Petersen an Absa Currie Cup Cheetahs debut on the right wing. Star loose forward Prinsloo is out for between four and eight weeks with a broken jaw and Gerhard Olivier replaces him in the No 6 jersey, while Freddy Ngoza and Ruan van Rensburg are new additions on the bench.
Eastern Province Kings – The injuries to Tim and George Whitehead has resulted in experienced centre Ronnie Cooke returning to the starting line-up, with JP du Plessis moving to inside centre. Karlo Aspeling takes over the flyhalf duties, while Jacques Engelbrecht comes in for Stefan Willemse at flank. Willemse, who had a slight niggle earlier in the week, is on the bench. Flyhalves Elgar Watts and Gary van Aswegen are still injured.
Steval Pumas – Prop Corne Fourie will start his first match of the season at loosehead with Khwezi Mona shifting to tighthead in place of De-Jay Terblanche. Jason-Colin Fraser starts at No8 in place of Lambert Groenewald, while lock Rudi Matthee replaces Giant Mtyanda, who shifts to the bench.
Cell C Sharks – Paul Jordaan returns to the starting line-up for the first time following a long injury lay-off and will partner up with the big Andre Esterhuizen (inside centre) in midfield. Heimar Williams drops out of the playing squad while Wadile Mjekevu moves to the bench. S’bura Sithole is back from injury and will slot into the left wing position. The other change to the backline sees veteran Michael Claassens replacing Stefan Ungerer (bench) at scrumhalf. Flank Jean Deysel is out with a strained tricep muscle and is replaced by Francois Kleinhans. Dale Chadwick returns from injury to reclaim the No1 jersey.
Xerox Golden Lions – In the forwards, coach Ackermann has made four changes. Ruan Dreyer and Robbie Coetzee move into the starting line-up at loosehead prop and hooker respectively. At lock, MB Lusaseni also moves up into the starting side and Kwagga Smith will start at flank. In the backline, Stokkies Hanekom will start in the place of injured centre Harold Vorster. Jaco van der Walt starts at fullback, while Ruan Combrinck moves to right wing.
Vodacom Blue Bulls – William Small-Smith and Deon Stegmann are ruled out with injuries and their replacements are Dries Swanepoel and Roelof Smit respectively. Coach Marais decided to start with Bandise Maku at hooker, with Jaco Visagie switching roles with the former Bok and on the bench.
DHL Western Province – Centre Kotze earned eight Vodacom Super Rugby starts for the DHL Stormers earlier this season (on the wing), but this will be his first Absa Currie Cup start – having made his tournament debut off the bench two weeks ago against Griquas. On the bench, hooker Scarra Ntubeni comes in for Marius Fourie as the hooker replacement, Chris van Zyl gets the nod over fellow lock Jan de Klerk and Huw Jones is preferred over Kobus van Wyk as specialist centre cover. Jones will be on Absa Currie Cup debut for Province, having made 14 appearances for the DHL Stormers this year.
Absa Currie Cup round three fixtures:
Friday, 21 August
ORC Griquas vs Toyota Free State Cheetahs
Venue: Griquas Park, Kimberley
Kick-off: 19h10
Since 1996 – P 31, W 4, L 26, D 1
Eastern Province Kings vs Steval Pumas
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 19h10
Since 1996 – P 24, W 4, L 17, D 3
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Cell C Sharks vs Xerox Golden Lions
Venue: Growthpoint Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 17h00
Since 1996 – P 37, W 22, L 15
Vodacom Blue Bulls vs DHL Western Province
Venue: Loftus Versfeld
Kick-off: 19h10
Since 1996 – P 36, W 18, L 16, D 2
All the Absa Currie Premier Division matches will be televised live on SuperSport.
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