Marcel Coetzee leads Bulls in Connacht

The South Africans travel to Ireland for round 7 of the 2024/25 United Rugby Championship as they resume their title quest from third place on the log, a point ahead of their opponents who are tied on 18 points in 5th place.

Director of Rugby Jake White has also opted to make use of his returning Springboks from International duty whilst also his side is boosted by the return of flyhalf Johan Goosen.

"Goosen has been training really well. He hasnâ™t been involved in the opening rounds of the league, and to be fair, we have done really well without him, but training-wise, we have been training completely differently with him running at 10," White told the Bulls' website.

"All our Springboks want to play and that is nice to have. They also come from a really good tour with the national side, they had a really good year as the Springboks, surrounded by players who have been nominated as the best in the world so that also influences how they arrive back with us and to have them keen to play for the club is nice to see.

"It is difficult for some players who have been away from home almost 8 weeks now, but we make our selections to give ourselves the best chance possible to qualify for the playoffs in all the competitions we play in."

The herd will see Alulutho Tshakweni line up alongside Akker van der Merwe and Francois Klopper at the front. Ruan Vermaak and JF van Heerden pair at lock with Coetzee alongside Cobus Wiese who shifts to the flank role for the first time since arriving in the capital. Celimpilo ka Gumede completes the forwards pack at eight.

Embrose Papier starts at scrum half, pairing up with flyhalf Goosen as the halfback combination. Behind the pair, Harold Vorster and David Kriel combine at centre, with Sebastian de Klerk [left] and Canan Moodie [right] blitzing it on the wings with the commander, Willie le Roux at the back.

White has opted for a five-three split impact squad that sees the fresh of Springbok duty Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp and Cameron Hanekom, who made his international debut a week back, sit on standby alongside Mornay Smith, Jannes Kirsten, Keagan Johannes, Aphiwe Dyantyi and Stedman Gans.

"Playing away will always be difficult, wherever you play will always be difficult and this is an even more difficult place because of the conditions. Wind is a big factor here because of the way the stadium is situated and that influences the game strategy," added White.

"I am expecting a really tough game, and what I really want is to see the things we have put into place over the last three weeks, which is a little bit of extra resilience on our try line, which we will need for this game."

"I am glad to have Willie back with us this week because one thing he can do is control the game from the back as well, so he will be massive for us tomorrow because the wind at this ground can influence your game unlike the stadium we have back at home; which are closed off. This is probably the one ground where you got to win the toss; it is a bit like cricket in the sense that at this ground, playing with the factors in your favour counts.

"Playing away, you get the crowd behind their home team, the wind factor, a 4-G pitch which we have not played on in a long time. These are all factors we have to account for. Playing Connacht in Connacht is a tough gig for any team. They are a team that is always in the top eight and they never give anything away."

On the three-week break, White reflected and said: "By playing in the Grand Final, it meant that we had a short pre-season and then the Currie Cup competition as well, so the three-week break allowed us time to work on some of the things we would have naturally done before the season began. Some guys worked on fitness, others on strength gains; just an individualised period as well where guys could focus on key areas of their game."

Bulls - 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Sebastian De Klerk, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Mpilo Gumede, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Marcell Coetzee (c), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni

Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Mornay Smit, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 23 Stedman Gans