Cape Town – Despite seeing his team pull off a bonus-point victory over Connacht, Bulls coach Jake White was in a crestfallen mood afterwards as he contemplated the potential absence of three star players for the upcoming tour of Europe.
The Pretoria side secured their four tries within 46 minutes at Loftus Versfeld in Friday night’s 28-14 United Rugby Championship win against the Irish province, which was especially satisfying for the home team after they lost 34-7 in Galway last year.
But now White has an anxious wait to see whether Springbok wings Canan Moodie and Sbu Nkosi, as well as star hooker Johan Grobbelaar, will depart with the squad to Europe on Monday for matches against Glasgow Warriors, Munster and Benetton.
First to leave the scene at almost the same time in the 25th minute were Moodie (hamstring) and Grobbelaar (ankle), and they were replaced by Lionel Mapoe and Jan-Hendrik Wessels respectively.
Then in the 70th minute, Nkosi was hurt around the head and neck area in what appeared to be a high tackle by Connacht captain Jarrad Butler, and after being checked out by the medical staff, he went off for a head injury assessment (HIA).
At the moment, it sounds as if Nkosi might not be available for next Saturday’s clash against Glasgow, while White has to see how bad Moodie and Grobbelaar’s injuries are.
“It’s a tough game, hey. Everyone gets injuries, so we’re just going to have to find out. They are going to have scans – I don’t know if they can have them tonight (Friday)… probably tomorrow (Saturday) – and then we’ll do an assessment,” White said in the post-match press conference.
“At least it’s not all long-term injuries. Sometimes it’s cruciate ligaments or Achilles injuries, and you’re out for eight or nine months.
“One’s a head knock (Nkosi), one’s a sort of tight hamstring and the other one is an ankle injury. So, hopefully we will get some good news tomorrow.
“I will only know tomorrow (if they are out of the tour). Concussion is a minimum of 10 days, so thank God we played on Friday. So, he (Nkosi) might be available for the second game. Canan, I’m not sure about his hamstring, how long that will take to heal.
“And then the ankle one, I will get the prognosis from the scan tomorrow, and I will know whether or not Grobbies will be good enough to either be part of the tour or wait for us to come back.”
The Bulls were quick out of the blocks and scored 21 points by halftime, with tries by Kurt-Lee Arendse, Zak Burger and captain Marcell Coetzee, and Burger’s second touchdown secured the bonus point six minutes after the break.
But yellow cards to Marco van Staden, Johan Goosen and Wessels halted their momentum, while the rhythm of the game was also affected by the whistle of referee Andrea Piardi and involvements from TMO Matteo Liperini, as well as unnecessary water breaks in an evening game.
“It’s a tough comp, so to get four tries… We had a couple disallowed. I thought at times, we played really well,” White said.
“Defensively, I thought we were outstanding. When you consider we played 30 minutes with 14 guys, and then probably eight of those with 13 guys… Defensively, I thought we were much better than we were last week.
“One area that I do think we need to look at is these water breaks. I’m not quite sure whether these water breaks – at different times of the game, decided by the match officials – are working.
“I don’t know how other teams feel, but I generally think it’s not helping us, because you never know when the water break’s coming. It could come at a really important time of the game. It could come when you are building pressure.
“So, I think we’ve got to relook at these water breaks. Either it must be 20-minute slots, where you know you’ve got 20 minutes and then it’s a water break, or we must just can them. I don’t think the game is getting the shape that it could have.”
Points-Scorers
Bulls 28 – Tries: Kurt-Lee Arendse, Zak Burger (2), Marcell Coetzee. Conversions: Johan Goosen (4).
Connacht 14 – Tries: Jack Aungier, David Hawkshaw. Conversions: Hawkshaw (2).