Pretoria - Bulls coach Frans Ludeke made four changes to his side to play the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday, with young guns Arno Botha and Jan Serfontein and the experienced Werner Kruger and Lionel Mapoe included in the starting team.
All four were on the bench last weekend when the Bulls beat the Sharks 18-16 in Durban, but they now replace Dewald Potgieter, Wynand Olivier, Frik Kirsten and Akona Ndungane respectively.
Potgieter and Kirsten will play off the bench, while Olivier drops out of the match 22. Ndungane did not recover from a lower leg injury in time.
Zane Kirchner will make his comeback to the Super Rugby competition off the bench following his finger injury and Louis Fouché has been cleared of the hip injury that saw him miss the encounter in Durban. Callie Visagie also rotates with Willie Wepener as back-up hooker.
Ludeke stressed the importance of a good performance against the Cheetahs, the other South African side currently in a playoff position.
“We can do ourselves a lot of favours by beating the Cheetahs this weekend, especially ahead of the three weeks break,” said Ludeke.
“We will have a number of players involved in the Test series and you never know in what shape they will come back. We need to put ourselves in the best possible position before the break and a win in Bloemfontein will do that.”
Bulls captain, Pierre Spies, said previous performances against the Cheetahs means nothing.
“The fact that we have beaten them earlier in the season counts for nothing,” said Spies.
“They play on their home turf and although we have done well there in the past, that is not worth any points on the scoreboard. We need to go out there, impose ourselves and play the right type of rugby we know we are capable of. It is a massive challenge, but this team thrive on those.”
Kick-off at the Free State Stadium is at 19:10 on Saturday.
Teams:
Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Ligtoring Landman, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Riaan Smit, 22 Rayno Benjamin
Bulls:
15. Jürgen Visser, 14. Lionel Mapoe, 13. JJ Engelbrecht, 12. Jan Serfontein, 11. Bjorn Basson, 10. Morné Steyn, 9. Francois Hougaard, 8. Pierre Spies (captain), 7. Arno Botha, 6. Deon Stegmann, 5. Juandré Kruger, 4. Flip van der Merwe, 3. Werner Kruger, 2. Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1. Dean Greyling
Substitutes: 16. Callie Visagie, 17. Frik Kirsten, 18. Grant Hattingh, 19. Dewald Potgieter, 20. Jano Vermaak, 21. Louis Fouché, 22. Zane Kirchner
All four were on the bench last weekend when the Bulls beat the Sharks 18-16 in Durban, but they now replace Dewald Potgieter, Wynand Olivier, Frik Kirsten and Akona Ndungane respectively.
Potgieter and Kirsten will play off the bench, while Olivier drops out of the match 22. Ndungane did not recover from a lower leg injury in time.
Zane Kirchner will make his comeback to the Super Rugby competition off the bench following his finger injury and Louis Fouché has been cleared of the hip injury that saw him miss the encounter in Durban. Callie Visagie also rotates with Willie Wepener as back-up hooker.
Ludeke stressed the importance of a good performance against the Cheetahs, the other South African side currently in a playoff position.
“We can do ourselves a lot of favours by beating the Cheetahs this weekend, especially ahead of the three weeks break,” said Ludeke.
“We will have a number of players involved in the Test series and you never know in what shape they will come back. We need to put ourselves in the best possible position before the break and a win in Bloemfontein will do that.”
Bulls captain, Pierre Spies, said previous performances against the Cheetahs means nothing.
“The fact that we have beaten them earlier in the season counts for nothing,” said Spies.
“They play on their home turf and although we have done well there in the past, that is not worth any points on the scoreboard. We need to go out there, impose ourselves and play the right type of rugby we know we are capable of. It is a massive challenge, but this team thrive on those.”
Kick-off at the Free State Stadium is at 19:10 on Saturday.
Teams:
Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Willie le Roux, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Francois Uys, 4 Lodewyk de Jager, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Ligtoring Landman, 19 Boom Prinsloo, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Riaan Smit, 22 Rayno Benjamin
Bulls:
15. Jürgen Visser, 14. Lionel Mapoe, 13. JJ Engelbrecht, 12. Jan Serfontein, 11. Bjorn Basson, 10. Morné Steyn, 9. Francois Hougaard, 8. Pierre Spies (captain), 7. Arno Botha, 6. Deon Stegmann, 5. Juandré Kruger, 4. Flip van der Merwe, 3. Werner Kruger, 2. Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1. Dean Greyling
Substitutes: 16. Callie Visagie, 17. Frik Kirsten, 18. Grant Hattingh, 19. Dewald Potgieter, 20. Jano Vermaak, 21. Louis Fouché, 22. Zane Kirchner