‘He’s going to get banged and bruised’: Jake wants 80-minute Challenge Cup display from Bulls’ Hanekom against Edinburgh

Cameron Hanekom made a lung-busting run right from the kick-off against the Stormers in Cape Town on February 8, but just hasn’t been quite himself since.

The Bulls No 8 somehow burst through the Stormers defence and made it beyond the halfway line, but took a blow to his knee on what was a patchy pitch damaged by non-sporting events.

The 22-year-old had been in exhilarating form up to that point, but was first laid low by the knee injury sustained in that thrilling charge, and a few weeks later, a back issue kept him out of the odd game.

Upon his return against Bayonne in France last weekend, Hanekom was brought on off the bench at the start of the second half, and lasted about 15 minutes before going off for a head injury assessment (HIA).

He returned in place of Marco van Staden around 14 minutes later, and finished off the last 12 minutes in helping the Bulls clinch a well-deserved 32-22 victory.

Coach Jake White was then able to include him at No 8 in the starting side on Friday for Saturday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final against Edinburgh at the Hive Stadium outside Murrayfield (1.30pm start).

Hanekom’s performance will be scrutinised even further now that regular starting Springbok No 8 Jasper Wiese sustained a neck injury that has ended his Japanese club season.

There are doubts about whether he would be available for the July Tests against Italy and Georgia.

But where is one-Test-cap Hanekom exactly with his fitness and game following a few stop-start months?

He will hope to prove to Bok coach Rassie Erasmus that he is in fine fettle on the 4G pitch at Hive Stadium that should aid his pace across the ground.

“It’s a quick pitch, and the 4G will suit him like a glove. He’s an out-and-out athlete,” White said on Friday.

“He’s fresh, because he hasn’t played much rugby. He came off the bench, got a HIA test and was off for 12 minutes – so he played 25 minutes last week.

“He also sat out for a while with some injuries, but what I understood and what people sometimes forget is that he is 22 years old.

“Playing at this level against internationals every week takes a real bashing on your body.

“The way he plays, it’s an obvious thing that he’s going to get banged, bumped and bruised, and going to pick up all these little (knocks).

“As his body gets stronger and tougher, and he’s used to the collisions, he’ll improve.

“But he’s fine. In terms of where he is, he wants to play... and a youngster who always wants to be on the field.

“I’m looking forward to how he plays tomorrow, and hopefully it will be an 80-minute performance.”

White was also able to restore Ruan Nortjé to the starting line-up after the Bulls captain played off the bench against Zebre and Bayonne following his recovery from a knee injury.

In addition, two other Boks in hooker Johan Grobbelaar (shoulder) and wing Canan Moodie (concussion) are back on the bench.

So, the Bulls squad is shaping up nicely for the business end of the Challenge Cup and United Rugby Championship.

Staying a few extra days in the French coastal city of Biarritz this week before the Edinburgh clash also helps with the recuperation on what could become a five-week European tour, as they will take on Munster and then Glasgow over the next fortnight in the URC.

“A lot of them are coming back, and for the knockout stages, getting (Cobus) Wiese back and Canan back... We don’t have Willie (le Roux) or Kurt-Lee (Arendse) back, and Gerhard Steenekamp is still struggling after his operation,” White said.

“I’m hoping that we can carry on winning, and then in the last rounds of these competitions, we’ll have our best players available.

“There’s no guarantee, though. But it’s just the nature of where we are, as some guys have had operations and things like that.

“They’ve (Biarritz) got a 4G pitch and a grass pitch, so we can train for Bayonne and Munster on grass pitches, and Edinburgh and Glasgow on 4G.

“We are actually going back to Biarritz tomorrow after the game as well. I just want to thank our shareholders, our CEO and our president, as we based ourselves in Biarritz.

“It’s almost like summer there – the sun’s shining, we can recover in the sea. We’ve got (former Bok and Bulls lock) Flip van der Merwe there (a former Biarritz rugby club president), who has opened the doors for us there and allowed us to use the facilities.

“It’s a blessing as well, because when you are going to be on tour potentially for five weeks, to have three weeks of that in a place like Biarritz is fantastic for this group of players.”

Bulls Team

15 Devon Williams 14 Sergeal Petersen 13 David Kriel 12 Harold Vorster 11 Stravino Jacobs 10 Keagan Johannes 9 Zak Burger 8 Cameron Hanekom 7 Jannes Kirsten 6 Marcell Coetzee 5 JF van Heerden 4 Ruan Nortjé (captain) 3 Wilco Louw 2 Akker van der Merwe 1 Simphiwe Matanzima.

Bench: 16 Johan Grobbelaar 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels 18 Mornay Smith 19 Reinhardt Ludwig 20 Marco van Staden 21 Embrose Papier 22 Johan Goosen 23 Canan Moodie.

Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen 14 Darcy Graham 13 Matt Currie 12 James Lang 11 Ross McCann 10 Ross Thompson 9 Ben Vellacott (co-captain) 8 Magnus Bradbury 7 Hamish Watson 6 Jamie Ritchie 5 Grant Gilchrist (co-captain) 4 Sam Skinner 3 Javan Sebastian 2 Ewan Ashman 1 Boan Venter.

Bench: 16 Dave Cherry 17 Pierre Schoeman 18 D’arcy Rae 19 Rob Carmichael 20 Ben Muncaster 21 Ali Price 22 Cammy Scott 23 Mosese Tuipulotu.