Pretoria - Blue Bulls midfielder Burger Odendaal is back to full fitness and will lead the team when they take on the Golden Lions in a Currie Cup match at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 17:15.
Odendaal captained the team in his last appearance before injury in August and will team up with JT Jackson in the midfield for the first time in this campaign. He replaces Dries Swanepoel, who is out injured.
The Bulls have also been boosted by the availability of Warrick Gelant at fullback, where he takes over from Manie Libbok, while Andre Warner will start at scrumhalf in the other change to the starting backline.
Libbok, the hat-trick hero from the last match against Griquas, Ivan van Zyl and Johnny Kotze will add impact off the bench.
Executive of rugby John Mitchell also made changes to his pack.
Jano Venter will start at No 8 in his first run-on appearance since moving from the Lions, with Nic de Jager moving to the openside to replace injured Shaun Adendorff.
Matthys Basson, who came off the bench against Griquas, will start at tighthead, with Dayan van der Westhuizen this time adding some punch off the bench, while Pierre Schoeman also starts at loosehead in place of Lizo Gqoboka.
Marco van Staden was also added to the bench for a first potential appearance this season.
Mitchell said the squad was still a work in progress.
“We used the bye week to further work on the aspects we need to improve on and grow as a team,” the coach said. “There are a couple of fundamentals that we need to change and that will never be achieved overnight. I am pleased that we did make some good progress, but that will obviously be tested this weekend against an opponent that has found some rhythm and momentum in the last couple of matches.”
Teams:
Golden Lions
15 Jaco van der Walt, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Ashlon Davids, 9 Marco Janse van Vuren, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen (captain)
Substitutes: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Robert Kruger, 20 Fabian Booysen, 21 Shaun Reynolds, 22 Aphiwe Dyantyi
Blue Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Burger Odendaal (captain), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Rabs Maxwane, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Jano Venter, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nic De Jager, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Matthys Basson, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 18 Tim Agaba, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Ivan van Zyl, 21 Manie Libbok, 22 Johnny Kotze