SPOTLIGHT: In the final part of our URC squad transfers breakdown, @rugby365com reporter Angus Opperman takes a look at the player movements of the South African teams.
Bulls: (season standing: second, finish: losing finalist)
It’s been a watershed season for the Bulls who was in it until the end to contest for top spot on the URC table.
The Pretoria based side played a great attacking yet power based game that’s soft on the eye.
They managed to break the stranglehold of the Stormers’ unbeaten streak over fellow South African teams at Loftus and knocked the fancied Leinster out of the semifinal for the second time in three years before coming agonisingly close to clinch their first URC championship.
Below are the players who have come and gone for the Bulls ahead of the upcoming season.
Players out: Chris Smith (Oyonnax), WJ Steenkamp (Lions), Kurt-Lee Arendse (Sagamihara DynaBoars – sabbatical)
Players in:
Cobus Wiese: The versatile forward provides the Bulls with great versatility with his ability to cover the lock and loose forward positions.
The former Junior Springbok made his senior debut with the Stormers and Western Province in 2017, having scored a decisive try in the 2017 Currie Cup Final for the blue and white hoops to clinch the title against the Sharks in Durban.
In 2020 wiese swopped the Cape for Manchester where he played 51 times for Sale Sharks alongside Springboks Faf de Klerk and Rohan Janse van Rensburg.
Wiese returned to South Africa to join the Bulls and had already made an impact in the 2024 Currie Cup and will look to build on that momentum in the URC.
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