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Bismarck starts against Bulls

Durban - Having come out of their match against the Blues without any serious injuries, the Sharks were able to name an almost complete replica side for this Saturday’s clash with the Bulls in Pretoria, reports Sharks website editor, Michael Marnewick.

Aside from Kyle Cooper making way for Bismarck du Plessis’ return to the starting line-up for the first time this year (and re-uniting an all-Bok front row), the Sharks side to take on the Bulls has remained unchanged for the penultimate pool match of Super Rugby 2013.

Last week’s pack dismantled the Blues at scrum time in particular and laid a wonderful platform for a nail-biting win, and against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, a similar effort against a physical opponent is needed if the Sharks are to come away with their stated aim.

“We’ve always gone up there and known how we want to play the Bulls and that’s worked for us at times and other times we’ve been physically dominated,” coach Hugh Reece-Edwards said.

“We are very aware of their physicality and certainly we know we need to be physical if we want to be in that game. But we also have to go up there and play our game to go and get the result we want. And that is to come back with a win to have any chance of staying in this competition.

“We have some talented players, some talented backs, and although we don’t have a huge number of backs, with what we’ve got we can certainly play exciting rugby. We know we have to keep the ball in hand for long periods of time against the Bulls and that doesn’t change regardless of the style of rugby we want to play.”

Flyhalf Patrick Lambie will reach a milestone in this match, his 50th outing in the competition since making his debut in 2010. Last week - against the Blues - he took his Super Rugby record to over 500 points (having scored 157 this year).

Kick-off is at 19:15 on Saturday.

Teams:

Bulls:

15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip vd Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling

Substitutes: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 19 Jono Ross, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Jurgen Visser, 22 Morné Mellet

Sharks:

15. Riaan Viljoen, 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Louis Ludik, 12. Butch James, 11. Lwazi Mvovo, 10. Patrick Lambie, 9. Charl McLeod, 8. Keegan Daniel (captain), 7. Willem Alberts, 6. Marcell Coetzee, 5. Franco van der Merwe, 4. Edwin Hewitt, 3. Jannie du Plessis, 2. Bismarck du Plessis, 1. Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16. Kyle Cooper, 17. Wiehahn Herbst, 18. Jandre Marais, 19. Jean Deysel, 20. Jacques Botes, 21. Cobus Reinach, 22. Jaco van Tonder

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