Brenden Nel - SuperSport

Johannesburg - The Bulls have received a setback ahead of their crucial Super Rugby encounter against the Waratahs at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

Springbok wing Akona Ndungane has been forced to pull out of the squad after failing a fitness test. He will be replaced by Gerhard van den Heever, with Stephan Dippenaar coming onto the bench.

However, this late setback wont disrupt the Bulls, as Van den Heever has been in good form when he has appeared in the Blue jersey and will relish another opportunity.

"It is never a good thing to lose a player that was picked to fulfill a particular job, but I back the system and know Gerhard and Stephan will do well," coach Frans Ludeke said.

"You don't win this competition with 22 players, but with a squad and this is a great opportunity for both to show what they can contribute."

Teams:

Bulls:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretoruis, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Dean Greyling

Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Dewald Potgieter, 20 Dustin Jinka, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Stephan Dippenaar

Waratahs:
15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Tom Carter, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Soseni Anesi, 10 Daniel Halangahu, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Ben Mowen, 7 Chris Alcock, 6 Dean Mumm (captain), 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Sitaleki Timani, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson

Substitutes: 16 Paddy Ryan, 17 John Ulugia, 18 Pat O'Connor, 19 Dave Dennis, 20 Hugh Perrett, 21 Brendan McKibbin, 22 Atieli Pakalani