The Bulls last year finished one place above the Sharks on the log and that will only fire the Sharks up even more. The Bulls have lost more Springbok players that the Sharks but the Sharks has also lost their fair share of experience players. Both teams have also signed their fare share of players the Sharks opting for young and fired up players and the Bulls opting for experience. This game will be won or lost in the forwards. The reason for me saying this is because the Bulls have always been a forward dominated team and if the sharks can,t front up they wont stand a chance. The Sharks needs their forwards to work hard and get clean ball to their backline, which I believe can stand up to any in the competition. If the Bulls are on the front foot you can look for Morné Steyn to control the game with his boot or his distribution, and Curwin Bosch if the sharks is on the front foot.
Key mach-ups:
Andre Esterhuizen vs Burger Odendaal: These two is both very big and physical centers. They will both look to carry the ball hard and run the crash ball to get their team on the front foot and in an attacking position. If the one defending the other gets in a dominant tackle they will put the attacking team on the back foot which gives the defending team an opportunity for a turnover. The player that wins this battle will certainly give their team a advantage in the bigger context.
Curwin Bosch vs Morné Steyn: The battle of the tens, the play makers probably one of the most important ones in any game. This is basically the definition of youth versus experience. Curwin has been one of the most exiting young players in South-Africa but for me he has not lived up to that hype. Morné is a tried and tested flyhalf even tho he is coming to the end and people will say he is to old for super rugby (like they said abbout Schalk) I believe he still has one last season in him. Morné will look to control the game and that is why he is a great ten he knows his strength and weaknesses and plays to his strengths. Curwin is still looking to find his feet and allot of times he tries to overdo things and that will cost him if he plays against experience.
Sikumbuzo Notshe vs Josh Straus: Josh Straus is a seasoned international playing for Scotland the past seasons which would have given him vasts amounts of experience. Notche on the other hand moved away from Cape town I believe to get out of the Springbok captains shadow. He is a very good players but not at the international level yet. The Sharks recruited him to cover for the Du Preez brothers leaving and i think he might be up for the challenge. If he wants to become of of the Springboks regulars he will have to step up this season and start challenging the players like Josh.
Teams:
Sharks:
Starting XV: 1 Ox Nche, 2 Kerron van Vuuren, 3 Thomas du Toit, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 5 Hyron Andrews, 6 James Venter, 7 Tyler Paul, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 9 Louis Schreuder, 10 Curwin Bosch, 11 Makazola Mapimpi, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 13 Lukhanyo Am (c), 14 Sbu Nkosi, 15 Aphelele Fassi.
Bench: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 John-Hubert Meyer, 19 Le Roux Roets, 20 Henco Venter, 21 Sanele Nohamba, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Jeremy Ward.
Bulls:
Starting XV: 1 Lizo Gqoboka, 2 Jaco Visagie, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 4 Andries Ferreira, 5 Juandré Kruger 6 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Abongile Nonkontwana, 8 Josh Strauss, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 10 Morné Steyn, 11 Rosko Specman, 12 Burger Odendaal (c), 13 Johnny Kotze, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 15 Warrick Gelant.
Bench: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Ryno Pieterse, 21 Wian Vosloo, 22 Embrose Papier, 23 Manie Libbok.
My Prediction:
I don’t think that I can make a prediction because the Bulls is my team and I would pick them if they played the All-Blacks. so I predict the Bulls will win
Rugby dissect 
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