Nick Mallett expects the Vodacom Bulls to draw on the emotion of the occasion when they tackle the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The All Blacks arrive in Pretoria for the third match of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour having beaten a competitive Stormers side 38-21 in Cape Town before thrashing a severely weakened Sharks team 54-0 in Durban.
Like the Stormers and Sharks, the Bulls are in pre-season and will be without their current Springboks, but coach Johan Ackermann has still been able to call on considerable experience.
Four capped Boks – flank Marcell Coetzee, scrumhalf Embrose Papier, flyhalf Curwin Bosch and fullback Willie le Roux – have been selected, while flank Hanro Liebenberg is back in Pretoria following a successful stint with the Leicester Tigers.
Former Sharks and Munster wing Thaakir Abrahams and No 8 Jeandré Rudolph, one of the Bulls’ standout performers in last season’s URC, will also face the tourists.
TEAM: Bulls get Bok boost for All Blacks clash
The hope is that the Bulls can follow the Stormers’ example by putting the All Blacks under sustained pressure rather than suffering the same fate as the Sharks, and Mallett believes a blend of experience and youthful enthusiasm will be crucial.
“I think a lot of it is having five or six guys over 30, if you can – guys who can guide your team and hold them together when things get a bit panicked,” the former Bok coach said on the Talking Boks podcast. “But also you must have the enthusiasm of youth, and I think the Bulls have got that.
“The Bulls got to the final of the URC and they’ve got strength in depth. And they will also play for their coach. They will play for their supporters.
“They’ve got that sort of Stormers-like, ‘We don’t want to let our public down.’ I get that feeling when I see the Bulls play, that they respect Johan Ackermann. They don’t want to let him down. They don’t want to let the supporters down either.”
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Mallett pointed to the Stormers’ effort in Cape Town as the blueprint for the Bulls and urged Ackermann’s men to embrace the opportunity rather than focus on the disruption to their pre-season preparations.
“I think that’s a key part of this whole match. If I was coaching, I’d say nothing negative at all about the game.
“It is what it is. You’ve been given this game. You’ve got to make the best of it.
COETZEE: Bulls have to be clinical
“I think what [Stormers coach] John Dobson did was outstanding. And I still think the last 10 minutes of that game [when the All Blacks scored three tries] was mainly through the disorganisation in the backline [due to replacement scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage’s injury] rather than a lack of excellence or enthusiasm in his team.
“That’s what we hope to see from the Bulls. You want to see them give it a full 70, 80 minutes and don’t give a yard.
“Tackle as though your life depends on it.”
Photo: Anton Geyser/Gallo Images
The post Mallett: Bulls will play for coach, fans appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Nick Mallett expects the Vodacom Bulls to draw on the emotion of the occasion when they tackle the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
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