At present they are the South African team with the most consistent level of play. They have a lot of momentum with the consecutive victories over the Cats and the Blues and they're playing with a lot of self-confidence. |
He will play, but I'm not saying where. |
I don't think we played that well, but we showed a lot of character considering the number of injuries we had. We stuck to our game plan in a very tactical game but we did well to come and beat the Currie Cup champion on their home ground. |
I have said in the past few weeks we wanted to rest him at some stage and I believe this is the opportunity. To play every game in the Super 14 is difficult for most players and all the teams rotate players at one stage or another. |
I think it is going to be an exciting game. |
I thought he played well against the Cheetahs and his tactical kicking was excellent. I will definitely include him again. |
It will mean we have to play our best rugby of the season if we want to beat the Chiefs for the first time ever on New Zealand soil. |
It's a big setback, because it seems as if he could be out of action for up to four weeks. |
It's time for every Bulls player to decide for himself how high he wants to lift his hand on Saturday. I've talked to some of the players on Tuesday and will get to the rest on Wednesday. They'll then know what I expect of each and everyone. |
Its not the ideal, but the value of the experience he is getting by being with us is immeasurable. I will never push a player too soon. There have been too many examples of that and those players disappear off the radar. |
The nice thing for the Bulls is that we are a side for the big occasions. The bigger the occasion, the more we rise. Saturday will be a test of character and guts and we need to show what we are worth. For that reason I'm taking charge of the forwards this week. We have a few things planned, and we could have a surprise or two for the Sharks. |
We want to give Derick a decent chance to make it. |
We will have a look later this week, but at the moment it doesn't look good. |
We'll treat it as another trial game and have a look at some different combinations at the same time. |