Bulls, Cheetahs unleash their best in Currie Cup after European exits

The Bulls and Cheetahs have named full strength teams for their Currie Cup clashes against Griquas and the Lions at Loftus and Ellis Park on Friday and Sunday respectively, on the back of both sides being knocked out of European competitions.

Both sides were dumped out of Europe by French opposition, with the Bulls going down to Toulouse to drop out of the Champions Cup and the Cheetahs being beaten by Toulon to fall out of the Challenge Cup last weekend.

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Both teams have thus thrown all their stars into their Currie Cup sides to try and bounce back from big defeats over the past weekend.

The Bulls in particular will be absolutely desperate for a win with them currently on a 10 match losing streak in all competitions, while the Currie Cup side has lost all four of their games so far, including to newcomers the Griffons over the past weekend.

The Griquas match will, however, be the first of the Currie Cup with the Bulls at full strength. With Springboks such as Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie and Elrigh Louw in their starting line-up, among their other stars, they will be hot favourites to break their duck.

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Despite Griquas heading into the match off a good win over Western Province, and the travel back from France in a short game week, the Bulls should have too much firepower for the visitors.

“I’m sure they will (feel the effects of the travel). But I read the Stormers thing as well, and it’s no use moaning about travel and all that sort of stuff,” said Bulls director of rugby Jake White ahead of the match.

“Last year we played with the same group of players every week, and we had one training session, and it seemed to work for us. So, we can’t now say because we are going to have one training session, we will be under-prepared. Last year, it seemed to be the recipe for our success.

“It’s the best team we can put on the field. It’s a must-win game. It’s an opportunity for us to get some points on the board in the Currie Cup, and keep our campaign alive.”

Bounce back

The Cheetahs will be looking to bounce back from their first Currie Cup loss of the season with a win against an in-form Lions team in Johannesburg.

The Cheetahs had to play their B team against the Pumas last weekend, with their A side in European action, and were soundly beaten.

With their first team back they will be confident of getting back to winning ways against the Lions, but with the combination of the travel back from France and the form of the home team, it may just open the door for the Lions to sneak an upset win.

The other matches over the weekend will see the Sharks taking on the Pumas in Durban on Friday night and Western Province hosting the Griffons in Cape Town on Saturday.

Currie Cup fixtures

Friday

Blue Bulls v Griquas, Loftus Versfeld (5pm)

Sharks v Pumas, Kings Park (7.05pm)

Saturday

Western Province v Griffons, Cape Town Stadium (8.30pm)

Sunday

Golden Lions v Cheetahs, Ellis Park (3pm)