Vodacom Bulls assistant coach Chris Rossouw has compared Kurt-Lee Arendse to All Black great Christian Cullen and believes the Bulls and Springbok star will only get better.

Speaking after Arendse cleaned up at the Vodacom Bulls’ annual awards evening where he claimed five individual awards, Rossouw was effusive in his praise for a player he believes is a rare talent in the modern game.

“Kurt-Lee is exceptional, not only as a rugby talent but as a human being as well. He’s extremely humble and a very hard worker,” said Rossouw.

“If I have to compare Kurt-Lee, I’d say he’s in the same range as Christian Cullen was. There are not a lot of players who have Kurt-Lee’s vision and skillset in the game currently. Once he’s in open space he cleans up the defenders.

“His ability to beat players in a small space in unbelievable. For his size, his contact ability is also outstanding – the way he dominates the contact and commands respect. And then you have his aerial skills. I think he is a complete player who will only get better and better.”

Rossouw also revealed how happy he is their paths have crossed at the Vodacom Bulls.

“When Kurt-Lee was in his final year at school I was at Maties and we wanted to recruit him then. We struggled to get him, and then Kurt-Lee was off the scene a bit. I was then coaching the Western Province Under-21s and we wanted to get him in again, and the selectors decided on someone else. Then he got into the Sevens system, and maybe those years made him even more humble and hard working. We’re very lucky to have a player of his calibre in the Vodacom Bulls squad.”

Photo by EPA/KIM LUDBROOK