Bulls face unfamiliar venue and loss of Botha
By Ken Borland and Duane Heath
An unfamiliar venue and the enforced absence of human wrecking ball Bakkies Botha could hinder the Bulls when they take on the Crusaders in their Super 14 semi-final in Soweto on Saturday.
The Stormers meet Australia's Waratahs in Saturday's second semi-final at Newlands in Cape Town.
The Bulls have been forced out of their home fortress of Loftus Versfeld, which has been handed over to Fifa for the soccer World Cup, after recording a 17-game unbeaten streak.
Springbok lock Botha had been suspended for four weeks for recklessly charging into a ruck last weekend.
His absence will boost New Zealand's Crusaders, who finished fourth in the standings but threatened to upstage the defending champions in their last match at Loftus on May 7. The home side scored a try after the final hooter to gain a 40-35 win.
"Bakkies is a great player and it's always tough losing a player like that, but we haven't had him a lot this year and the team has gelled without him, with guys like Danie Rossouw and Flip van der Merwe doing really well," said Bulls captain Victor Matfield.
Matfield said his team would not have a problem playing in the Orlando stadium in the black township of Soweto.
"We see it as a home game, there will be 40,000 Bulls supporters and we're still at altitude, and it's also the chance to be part of history, bringing the Bulls to Soweto. It's not the buildings that make you a better player, it's the people, the vibe, you feel everyone behind you and that gives you energy," he said.
The Crusaders came close to upsetting the Bulls in their last meeting but they then flew home on May 8 before returning to South Africa nine days later.
"We've trained really well, we had a good blowout, the bodies are refreshed and mentally we are there," wing Sean Maitland told Reuters on Thursday.
"We like to spread the ball around and, even though we'll look to mix it up, we're going to do what we do well, which is spread it a bit. We'll take the same mentality from the last couple of weeks in terms of our game plan."
The Stormers have the best defensive record in the competition and the confidence of having beaten the Waratahs 27-6 at Newlands in the regular season, albeit three months ago.
The South Africans also possess two of the best goalkickers in the tournament, flyhalf Peter Grant and fullback Joe Pietersen, who between them have scored 200 points.
The Waratahs are, however, the more experienced team in playoff situations, having reached four of the last six semi-finals.
Stormers coach Allister Coetzee told Reuters his team had "achieved nothing yet".
"It's a final. You can't play in a semi and hold something back for a final," he said.
Waratahs' coach Chris Hickey said: "We've been in four of the last six semis, so we know what's going to be waiting for us when we turn up. We must make sure we turn up with a mindset to play because when we played the Stormers in round two we didn't quite get that part of our game right."
The Waratahs have elected to prepare in the sub-tropical resort city of Durban, situated 1,700 kms up the country's east coast. They will undertake the two-hour flight to Cape Town on Friday morning.
"We have had a good history of preparing in Durban," captain Phil Waugh said. "We wanted to get away from the hype in Cape Town, so it's going to be a type of hit-and-run effort on Saturday. We were disappointed with how we lost against them, but that was a long time ago. Now it's all about getting the win and moving on."
- Editing by John Mehaffey