Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Bulls have invested their faith in 19-year-old Canan Moodie to be their last line of defence in Friday night’s United Rugby Championship semi-final against Leinster in Dublin.
While there has been a lot of excitement at the return of Blitzbok star Kurt-Lee Arendse from a thumb injury, director of rugby Jake White has heeded a prominent lesson he’s learnt from his side’s inaugural campaign in the tournament.
“To be fair, one of the things we’ve seen this year is that every time we bring someone back straight into the starting line-up, he’s taken a while to find his feet again,” the former Springbok coach said on Thursday.
“That goes for every player we’ve brought back quickly. Our back three combination is also a tall one and we believe there will be a lot of kicking. I don’t want to unsettle that combination if we don’t have to.
“Kurt-Lee will probably play off the bench anyway and we believe in this situation, it suits us better.”
Moodie, who earlier this week was included in the Junior Springbok squad for a “summer series” against Italy next month, also deserves his shot at facing the Irish (and European) giants as he’s been able to handle everything that’s been thrown at him over the past few weeks.
He recovered from clumsily conceding a try against Ospreys to have a hand in two of the Bulls’ scores later on and made the crucial interception against the Sharks that got the men from Loftus on the board in last week’s tense quarter-final.
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“Canan’s done everything that’s been asked of him. He’s worked hard and his combination with [wingers David Kriel and Madosh Tambwe] has been effective,” said White.
“There’s also the future to take into account here. We need to start somewhere. Leinster started like this a couple of years ago too when the revival came. You have to get youngsters and academy players in.
“This is not just about tomorrow. It’s about getting the Bulls to become one of the biggest and strongest teams in the world game over the next few years. This is how you do it.
“I’m just excited to have these youngsters who can measure themselves against the best. It’s a great benchmark to see if we’ve improved.”
White, however, hasn’t totally forsaken experience and did buy himself the significant insurance policy of the evergreen former Springbok duo of Bismarck du Plessis and Morne Steyn on the bench.
Kick-off is at 20:35.
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