Loose forward Elrigh Louw said the Vodacom Bulls will have the painful memories of their Rainbow Cup defeat to Benetton in the back of mind when the teams clash on Saturday.
The Bulls host the Italian outfit in round 17 of the Vodacom URC at Loftus Versfeld. With two rounds of the regular season remaining, Jake White’s charges are in fourth place, while Benetton remains in the race to the final eight from the final playoff position.
The Italians are on track to contest the URC quarter-finals for the first time, having knocked over several big teams this season. The Herd were humbled 35-8 when these two sides met in the 2021 Rainbow Cup final in Treviso, but have beaten Benetton twice, home and abroad, in their last encounters.
Yet, speaking in a Bulls conference this week, Louw acknowledged the bitter pill of that result three years while emphasising the team’s mindset going into the Pretoria match.
“We take every game as it is and look at it the same. We’ll be ready when the whistle blows and don’t think we need to put any unnecessary pressure on ourselves,” he told reporters.
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“I don’t think one needs to single out any specific team, we always prepare accordingly. Naturally it’s [the Rainbow Cup final] a sore point, and we’ll always be sour about that loss there in Italy.
“But we’ll keep looking forward and at the end of the day we have a job to do this weekend, and hopefully we get five points.”
Louw has two Test caps for the Springboks, both earned in 2022, and his focus on the Bulls is part of a bigger goal to pack down for the reigning world champions again.
On the back of several standout performances at blindside flanker, the 24-year-old back-row bruiser earned a call-up to a Bok workshop in March.
“It doesn’t matter much to me where I play at the moment but I enjoy seven a lot, I feel free and that I can get into the match more,” he said.
“It’s definitely a goal of mine to play more Springbok Tests but I’m focusing on performing well in the Bulls jersey at the moment, do what I can and control what I can.
“If I play well in the Bulls jersey then it’s meant to be if I get a call-up to play more Test rugby.”
Photo: Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
