Johan Ackermann, now coaching the Bulls, said he knows the type of belief the Lions will bring to their URC clash.
Bulls head coach Johan Ackermann said he knows what to expect from his former club, the Lions, in their United Rugby Championship derby on Saturday. He anticipates a fast-paced game and a team that believes they can beat their Gauteng rivals.
The teams clash at Loftus at 2pm, with the Bulls having won seven of the eight URC matches between them. These include the last four games. The Lions last beat the Bulls in the URC in 2023.
However, the Lions thumped a Springbok-depleted Bulls 44-5 in the Currie Cup in August.
The Bulls are again without most of their Springboks, with Canan Moodie, Ruan Nortjé, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp and Marco van Staden all named in the Springbok team to play Wales on the day.
Flyhalf Handré Pollard would have featured for the Bulls, but has picked up a calf niggle. Loose forward Cameron Hanekom is also still recovering from his hamstring injury suffered in the URC semi-final in June.
Only Springboks Willie le Roux, Jan Serfontein, Cobus Wiese and Elrigh Louw, who makes a return from injury, were named in the Bulls squad to face the Lions.
The Lions lose scrumhalf Morné van den Berg and prop Asenthathi Ntlabakanye to the Boks, and will announce their team on Friday.
Ackers: ‘I’ve been on that side’
Ackermann, who joined the Bulls this year, led the Lions to Super Rugby finals in 2016 and 2017 before joining Gloucester and reaching the 2018 Challenge Cup final. He later coached in Japan, guiding Urayasu to Division 1 promotion in 2022, and recently consulted with the Junior Springboks, who won this year’s World Championship.
While in Japan, he earned the Division 2 Coach of the Year award, adding to his three South African Coach of the Year honours.
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“I’ve been on that side,” Ackermann said of the Lions. “I know their thought process in the sense that they are going to believe they can come and win.
“And rightly so – any team must believe they can come and win. They played well before the break so they have confidence.”
He said he thought the Lions would chase intensity, beating the Bulls with a fast-paced game.
“We must be ready for that, and then make sure we match them physically. Because they will always come with physicality and move the ball around.”
Lions ready for Bulls
Lions assistant coach Barend Pieterse said they felt good after the month-long break, and are in a good mindset to beat the Bulls after triumphing over Scarlets and Ulster and moving to eighth on the URC table after three defeats at the start of the season.
The Bulls also want to kick on, though it’s after a disappointing Euro tour where they lost poorly to Ulster, snatched a one-point win against Connacht and then lost to Glasgow after leading for much of the match before a controversial yellow card and penalty try were awarded.
Ackermann said the result put a “big damper” on their tour. But the Bulls are still sixth with three wins and have plenty of time to reach the play-offs for a fifth time in five seasons.
