Cape Town – Kurt-Lee Arendse “seems fine”, but there is still uncertainty about Johan Goosen’s fitness for the Bulls ahead of next Saturday’s United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the Stormers.
Both players picked up knocks while featuring for the Blue Bulls Currie Cup side in their 31-7 bonus-point defeat to Western Province at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.
Springbok star Arendse – who was a surprise selection by Jake White as he may have been better off resting up for the URC playoff – was typically busy and never held back on attack and defence.
It was in sharp contrast to some of his regular URC teammates, who appeared to be going through the motions and perhaps trying to avoid injury ahead of next weekend, and it resulted in the Bulls fullback receiving some big tackles and contesting high balls in the air.
Eventually Arendse had to leave the field for an HIA concussion test in the second half after WP prop Lee-Marvin Mazibuko’s tackle was a bit high, although the Bulls No 15 was going down as No 8 Keke Morabe was busy tackling him around the ankles, which saw referee Morné Ferreira continue with the play and not penalise Mazibuko.
Arendse returned to the pitch about 10 minutes later, and continued until the end.
Bulls assistant coach Hugo van As was asked in the post-match press conference about whether it was worth risking their star player, and he said: “He seems fine. He came back and there were no signs (of concussion) – they wouldn’t take any risk with him. So, he’s fine.
“We wanted to take a bit of momentum into this game (from the wins over Griquas, Zebre, Lions and Leinster), and see if we can continue on that towards the quarter-finals.”
But White will be worried about Goosen, as he was well off his best as a playmaker, and was hesitant in defence. Young WP lock Dylan de Leeuw easily went around the Bulls No 10 to score a try, and then later handed him off with ease.
His left leg was heavily strapped up from the start as well. “I’m not 100 percent sure (how bad it is). Johan felt in the warm-up a tweak in his hamstring, but he got cleared by the medical staff to play,” Van As said.
“But at halftime, he was complaining, so I’m not sure (how bad it is) as they were busy examining him when I left the change-room. But I think he should be fine.”
Wing Wandisile Simelane was also clutching his right hamstring and went off in the second half, so he may be a doubtful starter for the Bulls’ next Currie Cup game against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday (5.10pm kickoff).
Points-Scorers
Western Province 31 – Tries: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Dylan de Leeuw, Damian Markus, Luke Burger. Conversions: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (4). Penalty: Feinberg-Mngomezulu (1).
Bulls 7 – Try: Harold Vorster. Conversion: Chris Smith (1).
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