Bulls primed to attack Zebre, even without Morne Steyn

Cape Town - No David Kriel, no Zak Burger – from those omissions, it is quite clear what kind of approach coach Jake White wants from his Bulls team in Friday’s United Rugby Championship clash against Zebre in Parma (7.30pm SA time kickoff).

The Pretoria side arrived in the Italian city on Tuesday, and were not available for media duties as yet.

That is not a surprise, though, considering that they have a lot of work to get through ahead of Friday night, following the 29-22 defeat to the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on February 12.

The three-match ban of Morné Steyn – for a dangerous tackle on Sharks captain Lukhanyo Am – threw a spanner in the works, as it means that the Bulls didn’t have a recognised back-up flyhalf on the bench for the Zebre match, with Chris Smith sure to don the No 10 jersey.

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The fact that White has opted for youngster Juan Mostert as the replacement pivot indicates that the Bulls coach wants to take the game to the Italians. He could easily have taken Kriel on tour, as the fullback has a good enough boot to fill in at No 10 if Smith had to get injured during the game.

But the official line from the Bulls is that Kriel and Burger are not injured, and did not travel to Italy due to rotation.

Mostert is one of the beneficiaries of that decision, as is exciting young scrumhalf Keagan Johannes. The latter is quite similar in style to Springbok No 9 Embrose Papier – great pace across the pitch and willing to take on the defence at close quarters – with the other halfback in the tour squad being Marco Jansen van Vuren, a big unit who can also engage the defence with his ball-carrying.

With Kriel out of the