Nortjé expects a 'massive breakdown battle'

HE didn't want to say too much about facing fellow Springbok lock Jean Kleyn just yet.

- ASHFAK MOHAMED

But Bulls captain Ruan Nortjé is confident that they can fix their line-out issues ahead of Saturday's United Rugby Championship clash against Munster in Limerick (6.15pm start).

Nortjé is the ultimate lineout guru in the mould of a Victor Matfield with the way in which he analyses the set-piece. Bulls coach Jake White has often stated how Nortjé studies the lineout hour after hour on the pitch and his laptop to fine-tune the operation.

But things didn't always work out in last weekend's 34-28 Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat to Edinburgh, where the Pretoria side wasted a number of attacking opportunities by failing to secure their own throw-ins.

"It was frustrating. Our lineout is a big part of our game, where we implement ourselves and then we try to create momentum," Nortjé said this week from Biarritz, France.

"I think that first half especially, there was maybe a skew throw, a miss, a knock-on – just fundamentals that we missed that put us under a lot of pressure.

"The way Edinburgh started that game the pressure just compounded. Each time we don't get the ascendancy, it's more pressure.