Bulls URC run helps Springboks’ ambitions: Erasmus

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Springboks’ coach Rassie Erasmus says the Bulls’ United Rugby Championship semi-final against Irish side Leinster in Pretoria on Saturday will have far-reaching implications for the national side. The Boks are without the Bulls players, until they finish their business in the URC.

But the experience they gain in a high-profile knock-out match, against an Irish juggernaut of a side, will prove invaluable to the Green and Gold. The Bulls will therefore be working in service of South African rugby this weekend.

The Bulls’ semi-final against Leinster at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday maybe important to those with a bias towards all things Pretoria based, but Erasmus says the Bulls going deep into the URC knockout rounds also helps the national side in many ways.

“If the Bulls can pull it through, we are fully behind them if it means we have to play without the Bulls’ players. But a South African franchise goes through, I think that is very important and it will boost us overall to eventually get champions cup victories and so on. I think the URC is another step, it is not only the Stormers vitally important.”

Having a dominant South African team is more complicated, because while the Stormers, the Bulls and even the Sharks all have the potential to become the alpha side in the country, few can emulate the way Leinster has retained their dominance consistently over the course of many years.

Erasmus says having a side like Leinster, whose standards rarely drop, would add another dimension to the national side.

“All countries are struggling to have a franchise like Leinster. They do sometimes lose big matches but they are consistently in the top four or in a final or host a final and obviously that gets transferred into the national teams.”

The Springboks will have to do without the Bulls players until they have run their race in the URC, which Erasmus says is a big sacrifice.

“No very important I mean as much as I would love to have them in our camp and be with us every single minute since last week, since Monday and the alignment camps and everything.”

The Bulls will therefore be on national duty when they front up against Leinster and with Ireland touring the Republic in July, it’s the perfect way to start a South African Irish rivalry.