Rugby: Hurricanes braced for 'angry' Bulls backlash in Pretoria

Hurricanes' Vaea Fifita contests the line-out throw with Cheetahs' Carl Wegner. Photo/Photosport

Despite 2017 evidence to the contrary, Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd is expecting an "angry" Bulls side in the early hours of tomorrow morning (NZT).

The Bulls versus Hurricanes at Loftus will be the last clash between South Africa and New Zealand sides until the July 21 quarter-finals.

The Stormers are the only team from the republic who have tasted success, over the Chiefs and Blues respectively, so there is no reason to think the Bulls will cause a boilover.

They are 3-2 at Loftus this season and one of those reverses was the 62-24 hiding dished out by the Crusaders, the other, a 17-10 defeat to the Highlanders in the wet.

"They are having a tough season, but at the end of the day, the Bulls at Loftus is a big challenge," says Boyd. "They are a big side, a physical side and they'll be angry with their season.

"They are not in playoffs contention, so have nothing to lose, so we'd be massively stupid to think we'll get nothing, but a very angry Bulls side,"

The shifting of Vaea Fifita from lock to the blindside is a major talking point and Boyd explained his rationale.

"We've been chewing over when we wanted to have a look at Vaea at six - he's got the skillset to play lock or six. We felt we'd go for a slightly bigger pack, particularly around set-piece.

"We were happy with Sam Lousi last week, but we'll bring Mark Abbott back in. He brings relentless work-rate, but this is something we've been looking at for a while and thought it was a good game to do it.

"Vaea is very powerful, a good lineout forward and good scrummager. Part of the reason we are experimenting with him at six is to free up those legs a bit more."

Boyd did confirm some good news on the injury front, with lock Michael Fatialofa, who had knee surgery last week, hopeful of being fit for their final regular season match against the Crusaders on July 15.

The only area of the Hurricanes game that Boyd does not seem to have the final say on is goalkicking, but it would appear Beauden Barrett, back at first-five, will persevere, after 100 percent off the tee against the Cheetahs.

There is, however, a caveat, in the altitude.

"One of the scary things I saw at training yesterday was that Jordie [Barrett] kicked three goals from closer to 70m. It was ridiculous to watch, really, but we'll probably continue our philosophy of not kicking a lot [of penalty goals]," Boyd says.

South African-born Ricky Riccitelli will be able to test himself against former Springboks hooker Adriaan Strauss.

The Bulls have some useful players, such as centre Jan Serfontein, wing Jesse Kriel and lock Lood de Jager, but they are hoping new "executive of rugby" John Mitchell, straight from his role as coach of the USA Eagles, will be their saviour for 2018.

Good luck with that.

Bulls: Warrick Gelant, Duncan Matthews, Jan Serfontein, Burger Odendaal, Jesse Kriel, Tiaan Schoeman, Rudy Paige, Hanro Liebenberg (c), Jannes Kirsten, Ruan Steenkamp, Lood de Jager, Jason Jenkins, Jacobie Adriaansie, Adriaan Strauss, Lizo Gqoboka
Reserves: Jaco Visagie, Pierre Schoeman, Conraad van Vuuren, Abongile Nonkontwana, Nick de Jager, Ivan van Zyl, Tony Jantjies, Ulrich Beyers

Hurricanes: Jordie Barrett, Wes Goosen, Vince Aso, Ngani Laumape, Julian Savea, Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara (c), Brad Shields, Ardie Savea, Vaea Fifita, Sam Lousi, Mark Abbott, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Ricky Riccitelli, Loni Uhila
Reserves: Leni Apisai, Chris Eves, Ben May, Reed Prinsep, Callum Gibbins, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Otere Black, Ben Lam