Bullet to lead the Bulls

One of world rugby's most controversial and erratic players has been handed the captaincy of a Super 12 side.

James Dalton, the forgotten Springbok and the hooker with an attitude, will take over the leadership of the Bulls for their match against the Stormers at Loftus in Pretoria on Saturday.

Regular skipper and scrumhalf Joost van der Westhuizen is out after injuring an ankle in the win over the Auckland Blues last Saturday.

The captaincy probably came as a surprise to the fiery front-ranker who this year moved from the Lions to the Falcons to get his career back on track.

The man known as "Bullet" finds it difficult to stay out of the firing line but he'll have to do so on Saturday to keep his side focused against a team determined to win the north versus south battle.

"James has had a rough time in the last two years but he's determined to get his game back to the level we all know he can play at," Bulls coach Phil Pretorius said on Tuesday.

"He was really overjoyed when I told him about it (the captaincy)," Pretorius added.

Dalton was a member of the Springbok World Cup winning side in 1995 and was part of the Bok tours to Italy and England (1995), Argentina, France and Wales (1996), Europe (1997) and Britain and Ireland (1998) and domestic several tours. He played Super 12 for the then Golden Cats in 1998.

Since then he went through domestic problems and business trouble leading to allegations of assault and brushes with the police.

Rugby-wise he was confined to Vodacom Cup and Currie Cup in 1999 and 2000.

But since being called up by the Bulls two months ago, Dalton has grabbed the chance to make up for lost time on the field.

Van der Westhuizen will have to do that when he comes back from injury but in the meantime, Hakkies Husselman, who has spent most of this year's competition on the bench, gets the opportunity to start at scrumhalf for the first time.

Other crocks in the Bulls side include backrower and vice-captain Anton Leonard and young centre JP Nel. Leonard is expected to be out for at least six weeks with concussion and a fractured shoulder injured against the Blues.

Also out for two months is Nel, who tore ligaments in his knee. His place will go to Griquas' Dries Scholtz.

"There is no doubt that we will miss the experience of Joost, especially in a match like this. The win over the Blues lifted us because we feel we've had a good year in terms of the type of rugby we've played although we did not get the results," the coach said.

In other developments in the Bulls camp, Lions flyhalf and sevens star Andre Pretorius returned to Johannesburg after saying he was not ready for Super 12 rugby. Pretorius wanted to draft the player last month but couldn't because he was injured.

The Bulls need a creative flyhalf and the coach felt Pretorius could be the answer. But now it's back to Franco Smith and Boeta Wessels, who will start against the Stormers.

"Andre is a fine footballer, an adventurous player with great speed and flair. He is the kind of player we need in our backline. But he felt it wasn't his time yet to play at this level, and I respect that," coach Pretorius said.

Pretorius will name his squad of 22 on Thursday.

The Stormers, meanwhile, are all fit. Scrumhalf Neil de Kock, who left the field against the Chiefs on Friday night after he got a knock to the head, was cleared on Monday.

Stormers coach Alan Solomons is expected to name an unchanged side on Wednesday.

Teams:

Stormers (possible): Percy Montgomery, Breyton Paulse, De Wet Barry, Werner Greeff, Pieter Rossouw, Braam van Straaten, Neil de Kock, Bobby Skinstad, Corne Krige (captain), Hendrik Gerber, Hottie Louw, Quinton Davids, Morne van der Merwe, Charl Marais, Robbie Kempson. Bench: Pieter Dixon, Faan Rautenbach, Rob Brink, Chean Roux, Joggie Viljoen, Stuart Abbott, Robbie Fleck.

Kick-off: 3pm (live on M-Net)