Snow doesn’t bother Bulls in icy Lyon

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Despite arriving to a snow-covered pitch at the Stade Gerland, the Vodacom Bulls are confident that star backs Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie will still be able to weave some magic against Lyon on Friday night.

The Vodacom Bulls have travelled to Lyon for their final Champions Cup pool match, which kicks-off at 10pm (SA time) on Friday night.

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However, the Pretoria team arrived to vastly different conditions to what they are used to in the South African summer. On Thursday morning, Vodacom Bulls president Willem Strauss shared a picture of the Stade Gerland pitch completely blanketed by snow, while players have also been sharing their experiences of the icy conditions through the week.

“It’s the first time in France for us, and that will be an experience.  It’s extremely cold at the moment with the snow, so it will be a great challenge for us. The guys are quite excited,” said assitant coach Chris Rossouw.

“If I look out of the window, the snow has stopped and it’s overcast. It’s extremely cold, and that will have an influence. But our approach will remain the same, so it’s about how we manage those big moments within the game.

“It will be interesting as we are playing at 9pm (French time), so it’s a late game and it’s the first time for us to play that late under this extreme cold.

“It’s an artificial pitch, so that’s a little bit different to a normal pitch, which gets quite easily frozen. I just saw follow-up pictures now where they are clearing the field with a tractor and some sort of a machine. So I think it will continue, as I can’t see too many games being cancelled on this side of the world.”

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The Vodacom Bulls have named an exciting starting lineup that is better suited to warmer conditions, but Rossouw is confident that their X-factor players will still be able to express themselves on Friday.

“The conditions will always limit your skill-set. The challenge will be for these players to make sure they develop themselves into more complete players, where they can play in all conditions.

“A guy like Kurt-Lee will make you look silly on any surface. I don’t think he will be limited. The challenge will be to make sure you have that traditional approach in conditions that force you to be more conservative. That’s where our game management will have a great effect.

“For those players, it’s about assessing the conditions, and applying what’s needed. If it isn’t snowing, then I think they will be comfortable in expressing their skill-sets.

“It’s obviously extreme,”Rossouw added. “We were playing in 35-degree temperatures at home in training last week. Now we are in sub-zero degrees, on an artificial pitch with snow.

“Over time, we have come to a point where we embrace the challenge and see it as a positive.  We haven’t played on an artificial pitch in snow, I imagine the ball will skid a bit more.

“The last time we played on an artificial pitch was in Glasgow and they upped the pace of the game a bit. This time, that might be more difficult with the snow.”

Photo: Twitter: @Springboks

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