New player Curwin Bosch from the Springboks team is aiming to quickly adapt within the Bulls squad during the URC season. He will get another chance to realize the potential that was once so high by taking on the flyhalf position in the opening match of the United Rugby Championship against Zebre in Parma on Saturday (at 18:30).
Bosch, once considered one of South Africa's brightest young talents, has come a long way since his debut at Grey High School in Gqeberha. He represented SA Schools twice, played for the Junior Springboks, and won two Springbok squads, but after moving from Sharks to French club Brive in 2023, it seemed that the promising career yielded relatively little.
Now, at the age of 29, the Bulls have brought Bosch back from France, giving him an opportunity to revive his career and justify early expectations. He returns to the number 10 position after recovering from a calf injury sustained in a match against the All Blacks, where his midfield partner will be Paul de Venter instead of the injured Embrose Papier.
The return of Sébastien de Clercq is also attracting significant interest, as he will start on the right wing. De Clercq showed excellent form earlier this year and was included in Rassie Erasmus's Springbok plans before suffering a serious foot injury. It was initially expected that he would not play in 2026, but he recovered significantly earlier than planned.
In the starting fifteen-meter lineup, Willie le Roux will take the fullback position, and Stravino Jacobs will be on the left wing, while Harold Forster and Stedman Gans will play in the midfield. In attack, Marcell Coetzee will captain the Bulls from the blind side flank, and Hanro Liebenberg, who returned to South Africa after playing for Leicester Tigers, and No. 8 Jeanandre Rudolph will form a powerful trio in the loose.
The Bulls do not have their own front-row players in the squad, as they are in Perth for a match against Australia; thus, Jan-Hendrik Vessels, Johan Grobelar, and Gerhard Steenkamp are absent. Alu Tshakweni and François Clopper will start as props (loosehead and tighthead respectively), and young Juan Els will take the hooker position. Experienced forward Nizam Carr, scrum-half Zach Burger, and young lock J.F. van Heerden are among the reserves.
The Bulls have never lost to Zebre, winning the last meeting between the two teams 54-19 in May at Loftus. Furthermore, they have won their opening URC match in each of the last four seasons and have only lost once in the last five trips to Italy.