Johan Goosen warns Bulls about Everitt’s Edinburgh Challenge Cup ‘tricks’

It has been a long time out for Johan Goosen, but making his comeback to rugby in France last weekend was a special occasion.

While he was a young wunderkind at the Cheetahs and Springboks, Goosen became world-renowned during his spells at French clubs Racing 92 (2014-16) and Montpellier (2018-21).

Bulls coach Jake White mentioned in the build-up to the Challenge Cup last-16 win over Bayonne that fans were posing for pictures and asking for autographs with Goosen.

The 32-year-old flyhalf sustained yet another knee injury in January’s Champions Cup clash against Stade Francais.

He only returned to action nearly three months later at the Stade Jean Dauger last Saturday, where a 15-minute cameo saw him kick a late penalty to close out the 32-22 win.

“I must say that it’s lekker to be back in France. The whole vibe around France and rugby here, and the people and supporters are great,” Goosen said.

“It was just nice to be back in the mix again with the team, and my pals, to get that feeling to play again.

“I must say that it felt a bit weird before the game – you don’t know how you must feel. And on the bench especially, you don’t know when you will go on.

“It was great to be back in France. I still struggle with the language! But it was good to be back, and to be here with the team.

“I’ve been through this (knee rehabilitation), and I must say, it’s been tough. This time was very tough for me.

“I’ve still got a bit of pain, but I must say that the coaches are managing me well, and I’m just happy to wear the jersey again, and got that 10 or 15 minutes at the weekend.”

Goosen is likely to continue off the bench in Saturday’s Challenge Cup quarter-final against Edinburgh in Scotland (1.30pm start), with Keagan Johannes likely to continue in the No 10 jersey.

Johannes deserves to remain in place after a Player of the Match display against Zebre at Loftus Versfeld, while he showed good control in marshalling the Bulls attack against Bayonne and slotting a few difficult goal-kicks.

Goosen was pleased with how the Bulls scored their four tries last weekend.

“It was definitely a positive for us – especially if he (wing Stravino Jacobs) feels like playing rugby on the day!” Goosen said.

“He is difficult to stop, and I feel that a lot of credit must go to our pack of forwards. When they get front-foot ball, then for any backline player to play behind such a pack...

“If you are going forward, then you can give the ball a bit of air. We have a few plans (against Edinburgh), and the game is still won upfront. It will start there first.

“It’s a difficult place to play. The wind can be a factor there. We’ve played there in the past, and have some ideas of how to play them there.

“They’ve got a few South Africans there, a few big guys, and set-piece will be massive.

“If we can get one over them in the set-piece, I think it will be a nice match to play in.

“Playing on a 4G, artificial pitch, it will be a quick, fast game. We’ve got quite big forwards, a big pack. So, I think they’ll try and move us around, and they’ve got dangerous backs outside.

“So, we must try to keep the ball away from them, and then we’ll be fine.”

But Goosen warned the Bulls to be wary of Edinburgh and their South African coach, Sean Everitt, who has been part of the management team at Loftus Versfeld during White’s current tenure.

“I’ve known Coach Sean now for a while, when he was coaching here at the Bulls,” he said.

“I must say that he is a great guy, a great coach, and I think he will have a few tricks up his sleeve!

“It will be a tough match for us – it’s a quarter-final, and anything can happen. We are looking forward to that and playing against an old coach in Coach Sean.”