The Bulls have denied accusations they are treating the Champions Cup with disdain by fielding a second-string side against Northampton Saints, despite reports they may have left more than a dozen key players at home.
A club spokesperson told i co-captain Ruan Nortje was one of nine players carrying injuries who would not be involved in Saturday’s quarter-final, while refusing to say if a list of up to 14 absentees being quoted in South African media is correct.
That list includes World Cup-winning Springbok backs Willie le Roux, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie along with fellow internationals Johan Goosen, co-captain Marcell Coetzee, Wilco Louw and Embrose Papier, plus Elrigh Louw and Gerhard Steenekamp.
They are said not to have been part of the already fragmented trip out of South Africa since Bulls beat a below-strength Lyon in the Champions Cup round of 16 tie last Saturday.
A 28-man squad, plus head coach Jake White and support staff, had to take eight separate flights to return home, via Dubai, Doha, Zurich, Brussels, Schiphol, Frankfurt and two London airports.
Bulls only knew they had to travel this week after Northampton won last Sunday afternoon – otherwise they would have been at home to Munster. It appears they had either failed to make a booking, or were unable to reserve cancellable flights, so when they got around to buying the seats there were not enough available on a single service.
When South African teams joined the United Rugby Championship (URC) in 2021, and European competitions the following year, the rationale was they were in a similar time zone, which was better for broadcast coverage, and travel would be much simpler by 12-hour overnight flights than the existing trips to New Zealand and Australia in Super Rugby.
In practice, the likes of the Stormers have complained at the URC’s sponsorship deal with Qatar Airways obliging them to fly via Doha, including a 40-hour trip to Glasgow last season.
This week’s expensive trip for the Bulls has needed six airlines to make it happen, albeit most of the party going in a more direct fashion than via Doha.
Nortje is out with a hamstring injury sustained just before the Lyon match which Bulls won 59-19 with Le Roux, Arendse and Coetzee among those on top form.
The squad are due to be training near Northampton on Thursday and White will announce the team for the quarter-final on Friday.
Bulls won away at Bristol Bears with a below-strength side during the pool stage and the spokesperson insisted the franchise have a “commitment to win” every tournament they enter, pointing out they treated last year’s domestic Currie Cup more seriously than some of their rivals.
The spokesperson said they sustained four injuries when losing 49-14 away to Leinster in the URC in Dublin the week before last, and another five around the Lyon match.
One player has “no skin on his knee”, another needs surgery on a meniscus injury, and a third is seeing a specialist in Cape Town about a knee problem. One of these could be the former Leicester Tigers lock Marco van Staden.
Injuries were “the only reason” for players not travelling, according to the spokesperson.
But media commentators have speculated that Bulls are saving themselves for next week’s home game with Munster in the URC, a competition in which the South Africans are third in the table.
In the Champions Cup – which has a South African-based title sponsor in Investec – the Bulls already know that due to the draw and the rules, they would have to return to Europe for the semi-finals and final if they beat Northampton in Saturday’s quarter-final and then get past Leinster or La Rochelle in the last four.
Northampton, who are hoping to reach their first Champions Cup semi-final since they were finalists in 2011, will be without their own South African centre Burger Odendaal, who damaged a hamstring in last week’s win over Munster, although England full-back George Furbank has been shown in kicking practice on the club’s social media and is close to a return.
