Vodacom Bulls coach Johan Ackermann has confirmed that his side will meet the Stormers in a warm-up match next month.
Ackermann was speaking after the Bulls’ 50-19 defeat to the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, in what effectively served as an early pre-season hit-out for the Pretoria-based side.
The Bulls begin their 2026-27 URC campaign against Zebre in Parma on 26 September.
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“Before the URC kicks off, we’ve only got one warm-up game and that’s against the Stormers on 11 September down in Paarl where the schools play their derby [Faure Street Stadium],” Ackermann said.
“The boys have got a week off now and then we’re back, and then there’s, I think, three weeks before we play the Stormers and then there’s one week of fine-tuning and then into the URC.
“We obviously fly over on the Tuesday before we play Zebre and then it’s Zebre and Munster.
“So we’ve got a few weeks to get the guys ready.
“We’ll take a lot out of this game and work on that, but there are also one or two things we want to add in the next couple of weeks.
“The main priority will be our conditioning, to get our conditioning sorted.”
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Ackermann believes their encounter against the All Blacks will ultimately prove beneficial.
“I know I said it disrupted our pre-season, but after tonight I do know that we’ll take a lot out of the game in terms of what we can work on.
“As coaches, we’re excited about what we saw, and it’s great for the players to now know what it takes to play at that level.
“It’s an experience I think they’ll keep forever.”
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Photo: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
The post Stormers, Bulls set for pre-season clash appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Vodacom Bulls coach Johan Ackermann has confirmed that his side will meet the Stormers in a warm-up match next month.
The post Stormers, Bulls set for pre-season clash appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
