White: What’s the point risking Bulls seniors now?
“What does one game mean, opposed to when you have four weeks more off or even six to 10 weeks for that matter."
Experienced loose-forward Nizaam Carr of the Bulls has been lauded by coach Jake White for his excellent leadership of a young group of players during the Preparation Series. Picture: Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images
Bulls coach Jake White believes it’s senseless to bring his senior core of players back for Friday’s final Preparation Series match against the Sharks in Durban.
After beating the Stormers 34-29 at Loftus last week, White said he would continue with the current group captained by former Springbok flank Nizaam Carr.
“I would have loved to give everyone game time and see different combinations,” said White.
“I wanted to see some of the youngsters play with players like Duane Vermeulen and Ivan van Zyl, with guys that have done well and are seniors in our group.”
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White, however, had a lot of players who were recovering from surgeries and injuries, and he felt to risk them now in a preparation match was “meaningless”.
“I don’t know when we are actually starting again and whether we are going to be off for another three weeks,” he said.
“Then what does one game mean, opposed to when you have four weeks more off or even six to 10 weeks for that matter.
“I believe there is a tipping point, so I like to play them, but I am also not going to risk them.”
With the young Bulls group improving all the time, White lauded the captaincy of Carr for keeping the players together in the absence of Duane Vermeulen, who has had knee surgery.
“Nizaam has been unbelievable,” said White.
“Not just this week, but the way he has captained them and the way he has the group behind him has been great.”
White believed the experience of Carr, both as a player and a leader, had been tremendously valuable in the build-up to a long season.
“You can’t coach good captaincy and I’m very happy where Nizaam is as a player and I’m very happy where he is with this group.”
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