Head coach Edgar Marutlulle believes rugby’s oldest competition is the ideal stage for Vodacom Bulls playmaker Johan Goosen to relaunch his career, again, reports DEVIN HERMANUS.
Sidelined with a shoulder problem since early February, Goosen will make his first appearance in the 2023 Currie Cup replacing flyhalf Chris Barend Smit in the starting XV for the clash against the Griffons in Welkom on Friday.
It has been another frustrating season for Goosen, who has made just a handful of appearances across the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and Champions Cup, after missing the better part of the 2021-22 campaign due to a knee ligament injury.
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Prodigiously talented and touted by coaches the world over, Goosen seems best remembered for what he hasn’t done – play rugby. But, speaking to media on Wednesday, Marutlulle extolled the quid pro quo of selecting the 30-year-old Springbok.
“When some people call him a prodigal player… when they earmarked him from a young age, 16, 17… there’s always that expectation and weight of performance,” said Marutlulle, who is winless after three games into his maiden term at the helm of the Bulls.
“He’s shown himself a couple of times to be a top performer in the Top 14 a couple years back for Montpellier [but] him coming back to SA was sort of him coming down to settle.
“I think the weight of expectation is probably the heaviest thing on Johan Goosen, in terms of what he has done in the past and what he was always earmarked to do, and also the pressure of Springbok selection.
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“With this particular group and especially with this new coaching staff, our uniqueness to Johan’s case is our ability to give him freshness, a new voice and a new place for him to relax and just be himself, because he knows he’s not in the penultimate stage of the URC or EPCR.
“He’s playing in the Currie Cup and we’ve got to try to help him recover and get to top match fitness, and help him help us win the game this weekend.”
He added: “Any coach in the world who was offered Johan Goosen on his first game back would take him in a blink of an eye.
“If we can get an 80-minute performance out of him, well done. If not, we’ve also got Barend Smit [on the bench]. Barend had some really good moments last week and he might give us something late on, in terms of the contrasting styles with Goose.”
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