Kriel brotherly love, but Bulls must keep shape against ‘running’ Lions

We’ve seen the ‘Hawera Cup’ encounter between good friends John Plumtree and John Mitchell, so should there be a Kriel Cup for battles between brothers David and Richard?

Well, should the two face-off in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship Gauteng derby at Ellis Park (2.45pm kick-off), their father won’t know which son to support.

David will turn 26 in mid-February and Richard 25 in early July.

“A Kriel Cup! We’ll see about that – my dad can’t even decide who he wants to support,” David said this week.

“He made a white T-shirt with one half a Bulls jersey and the other half a Lions jersey! I think he’s a draadsitter (sitting on the fence)!

“Last season, we also played against each other twice. It started in last season’s two derbies, and there is a lot more chirping at home!

“But I’m not seeing it as me against my brother: I’m seeing it as the Bulls against the Lions. Both of us want to win badly, but we are going to do our best to come out on the winning side.”

Bulls centre David said that he “doesn’t really” look out for and try to tackle Lions wing-fullback Richard, but that the Pretoria side know that they can’t afford to get caught up in the Johannesburg outfit’s all-out attacking approach.

Jake White’s team ended a four-match losing streak by beating Stade Francais 48-7 in the Champions Cup at Loftus Versfeld last week, and are keen to maintain their bid for a home URC playoff as they are currently in fourth position on 25 points.

The Lions, although they regained some form in the Challenge Cup by thrashing the Dragons 60-10 at Ellis Park last weekend, are languishing in 12th spot on the URC standings with only 19 points.

“We know that the Lions love to run the ball – even more so as I have a brother who stays with me, who is at the Lions!” David Kriel said.

“He’s been telling me a couple of times – not especially that they’re playing us – but against other teams, they back themselves in running (the ball). We can see week-in and week-out that they’re good with running the ball, so we have to be sharp in defence, keep our numbers on our feet, and match them physically.

“We must out-physical them even. It’s going to be a lekker challenge, one that really excites us all.

“You don’t want to lose your structure and game-plan, so we’re going to be studying them as well this week and just stick to our game-plan – and hopefully we come out on top on Saturday.”

David Kriel will also hope to earn the nod in midfield, having sat out of the last few games with a shoulder issue.

Harold Vorster and Stedman Gans did a fine job at centre against Stade Francais, though, so Kriel may play in the back-three or off the bench.

“I’m available for selection. I had something in my shoulder, and it’s actually quite a long story. But luckily it’s healed fully now,” David Kriel said.

“It’s a healthy competition. Everyone here is a quality rugby player and everyone wants to play.

“But it’s not a bad type of competition. Everyone helps each other, and prepared everyone in the best way possible.

“It was very good for us, for the confidence as a whole. We came off losing four consecutive games, so the past weekend’s game was really good for us.”