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Jake White makes 'I'll buy their first beer' promise to Bulls fans
By
Liam Heagney
World Cup-winning coach Jake White has committed to buying a round of drinks for 1,000 Bulls fans following Saturday’s home URC match versus Edinburgh in Pretoria. Last season’s beaten finalists got their new season underway last weekend with a win at the Lions in Johannesburg and the successful 2007 RWC Springboks boss is now hoping a follow-up round two win will be celebrated against the visiting Scots at Loftus Versfeld.
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Speaking during a radio interview on Jacaranda FM in the lead-up to the Bulls’ first home game of the 2022/23 campaign, White generously promised to foot the bill for 1,000 post-match drinks for his team’s fans at the stadium’s beer garden.
“We want to get as many people as possible at our games,” explained White. “We know this weekend will be an afternoon game and it’s Heritage Day. Part of our heritage is to have a braai and a beer, so one of the things we could do is give the first thousand guys to go into the beer tent after the game – I’ll pay for that – and I’ll buy their first beer.
“I always say that we want crowds here at Loftus even if it means we get everyone to the beer tent after the game. Hopefully, we will be celebrating a good result.”
It’s not the first time White has adopted a fan-friendly policy at the Bulls as he was previously responsible for securing a price drop on ticket prices to matches at Loftus and the lowest ticket prices this Saturday are R25 (£1.25) with U18s entitled to free admission.
Saturday will see former Springboks full-back Johan Goosen play his first match for the Bulls in eleven months following injury while Elrigh Louw, the back-rower who was involved with South Africa in last weekend’s Rugby Championship win over Argentina in Buenos Aires, has been chosen at No8.
BULLS (vs Edinburgh, Saturday): 15. Johan Goosen; 14. Cornal Hendricks, 13. Lionel Mapoe, 12. David Kriel, 11. Stravino Jacobs; 10. Chris Smith, 9. Zak Burger; 8. Elrigh Louw, 7. Ruan Vermaak, 6. Marcell Coetzee (capt), 5. Ruan Nortje, 4. Walt Steenkamp, 3. Mornay Smith, 2. Johan Grobbelaar, 1. Gerhard Steenekamp. Reps: 16. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Francois Klopper, 19. Janko Swanepoel, 20. Marco van Staden, 21. Embrose Papier, 22. Morne Steyn, 23. Stedman Gans.
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