Johan Ackermann has urged his Vodacom Bulls squad to embrace the occasion when they host New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, despite acknowledging his side will be under-prepared and missing key personnel.
The Bulls will be the third South African franchise to face the All Blacks on their current tour, following defeats for both the Stormers and Sharks. Unlike those opponents, however, the Bulls are still several weeks out from the start of the URC season and remain in pre-season mode, a reality compounded by their run to last season's final, which shortened their preparation window.
"It's a great occasion, but we will definitely be a little bit under-prepared from where we want to be," Ackermann said. "Obviously, we're building up to the URC and that's still a few weeks away, so we don't want to peak now. So therefore, I think we're trying some new stuff and we're trying to expand on our game from last season."
The Bulls coach acknowledged the scale of the challenge, noting that trialling new patterns against an international side carries significant risk. "This will be a massive test because you're going to do it not against a warm-up game, against somebody where you can trial and error, you do it against one of the best sides in the world, if you get it wrong, they can punish you," he said. "But that's why we just want to embrace the occasion and embrace this."
Coetzee's rare pedigree
One player who will bring invaluable experience to a youthful Bulls outfit is Marcell Coetzee. The 35-year-old loose forward, who made his Springbok debut in 2012, has faced New Zealand four times at Test level, most recently in South Africa's 27–25 victory at Ellis Park in 2014. That win, sealed by a late Pat Lambie penalty, remains one of the defining results of that era.
Coetzee's 31 Springbok caps and more than a decade of international rugby make him one of the few Bulls players with direct All Blacks experience. "I've been very privileged to have played against them four times," Coetzee said. "The last one, 2014, to get the opportunity to play them again after all these years, that's awesome."
For the Bulls, Saturday's fixture represents both a significant test and an opportunity to gauge their progress ahead of the new campaign. With Springbok-contracted players unavailable and the squad still building towards peak fitness, the margin for error will be slim. But Ackermann's message is clear: the occasion itself, and the chance to measure themselves against one of world rugby's benchmark sides, is worth embracing—even if the timing is far from ideal.