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Pretoria - Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar included Springboks JJ Engelbrecht and Jan Serfontein in his backline and promoted loose forward Jacques Engelbrecht to his starting pack for Saturday’s do-or-die Absa Currie Cup clash against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
The Bok midfield duo will play for the Blue Bulls for the first time this season and will replace William Small-Smith and Francois Venter respectively.
Small-Smith will move to the Under-21’s and Venter to the bench.
Engelbrecht’s inclusion at No 8, only his second start in seven matches, prompted a reshuffle to the loose trio. Regular No 8, Jono Ross, moves to the side of the scrum, with Wiaan Liebenberg released to captain the Under-21 side.
A fit-again Jean Cook moves onto the bench.
In more changes on the bench, Werner Kruger replaces Dean Greyling and Clayton Blommetjies comes in for Ulrich Beyers.
Pienaar admitted that it was a very tough assignment.
“We put ourselves into this corner and it is up to us to get out of it as well. This is not the ideal situation, but there is still something to play for. We will have to take our chances, it is as simple as that,” Pienaar said.
Ross echoed those sentiments.
“We still have a chance to make the playoffs. We need to prove to ourselves that we are good enough to do it.”
Teams:
Free State Cheetahs
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Rayno Benjamin, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Francois Uys, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen
Substitutes: 16 AJ Le Roux, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Teboho Mohoje, 19 Freddy Ngoza,20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Piet Lindeque, 22 Willie du Plessis
Blue Bulls
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Jono Ross (captain), 5 David Bullbring, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Marcel van der Merwe
Substitutes: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Jean Cook, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Francois Venter, 22 Clayton Blommetjies
The Bok midfield duo will play for the Blue Bulls for the first time this season and will replace William Small-Smith and Francois Venter respectively.
Small-Smith will move to the Under-21’s and Venter to the bench.
Engelbrecht’s inclusion at No 8, only his second start in seven matches, prompted a reshuffle to the loose trio. Regular No 8, Jono Ross, moves to the side of the scrum, with Wiaan Liebenberg released to captain the Under-21 side.
A fit-again Jean Cook moves onto the bench.
In more changes on the bench, Werner Kruger replaces Dean Greyling and Clayton Blommetjies comes in for Ulrich Beyers.
Pienaar admitted that it was a very tough assignment.
“We put ourselves into this corner and it is up to us to get out of it as well. This is not the ideal situation, but there is still something to play for. We will have to take our chances, it is as simple as that,” Pienaar said.
Ross echoed those sentiments.
“We still have a chance to make the playoffs. We need to prove to ourselves that we are good enough to do it.”
Teams:
Free State Cheetahs
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Rayno Benjamin, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Philip van der Walt, 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Francois Uys, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen
Substitutes: 16 AJ Le Roux, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Teboho Mohoje, 19 Freddy Ngoza,20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Piet Lindeque, 22 Willie du Plessis
Blue Bulls
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Jacques Engelbrecht, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Jono Ross (captain), 5 David Bullbring, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Marcel van der Merwe
Substitutes: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Jean Cook, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Francois Venter, 22 Clayton Blommetjies
