Sebastian de Klerk blow for Bulls as they lick wounds after Stormers defeat
UNITED RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP
The Bulls’ URC campaign has hit a major speed bump with star man Sebastian de Klerk and midfield anchor Harold Vorster, pictured, ruled out. Photo: Backpagepix
Image: Backpagepix
The Bulls will be without arguably their best backline player this season, Sebastian de Klerk, for Friday night’s United Rugby Championship match against Cardiff, and for much of the rest of the tournament.
De Klerk has been in brilliant form for the Bulls and is known to have impressed Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, but the former Puma has been cruelly struck down with a suspected broken bone in his foot.
De Klerk left the field five minutes before half-time in his team’s defeat to the Stormers last week. He was replaced by veteran Willie le Roux, who had a performance he will want to quickly forget. De Klerk was later seen at Loftus Versfeld with his injured foot in a moon boot.
Also, the Bulls will be without a key player in Harold Vorster. The former Junior Springbok has an important but underrated role at inside centre in the Bulls’ backline.
After the surprise 32-19 loss to the Cape team, coach Johan Ackermann said: “There is something wrong with Sebastian's foot; it could be a broken bone. We will get more clarity later.
“Harold failed his concussion test right at the end. We will have to see if he will have enough days to turn it around, but he failed the one he did after the game, so it does not look good.”
The match was a golden opportunity for the Bulls to make inroads into the URC top eight; the loss leaves them at eighth on the log, and their chance of a top-four finish has considerably waned with six rounds to go.
“We have put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” said Ackermann, whose team have won six and lost six in the URC. “Our margin for dropping points is getting less and less. If we had won this home game, it would have eased the pressure on our away games.
“But now there is more pressure on us to beat Cardiff (at Loftus on Friday), and then we've got Munster left, followed by a month away from home on the road, for the EPCR as well as the remaining away URC games,” Ackermann added.
“In short, what we need now is action, not sulking.”