Bulls big guns fit to start

Pretoria - Bulls coach Frans Ludeke included fit-again Jan Serfontein and Francois Hougaard in his starting team and former Junior Springbok lock Paul Willemse on the bench for his side’s Super Rugby semi-final against the Brumbies at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Kick-off is at 17:05.

All three players recovered from the injuries that kept them out of the last league fixture against the Stormers in Cape Town two weeks ago.

Serfontein replaces Francois Venter in the midfield and Hougaard’s inclusion comes at the expense of Jano Vermaak, who will move to the bench, where he replaces Rudy Paige.

Willemse replaces Jacques du Plessis, who made his debut in Cape Town.

“We have worked hard to put ourselves in a position where we could host a semifinal at home and achieved that. We cannot allow all that effort to go to waste on Saturday,” Ludeke said.

“We certainly respect the Brumbies as an opponent, but this match will be about us and our ability and drive to make them play the game at our tempo and to our game plan. For that we will need to be accurate and execute the big plays well,” the coach said.

Bulls captain, Dewald Potgieter, encouraged the home supporters to help them over the line.

“We have great fans and we love doing well in front of them. It is going to be a game of margins on Saturday and if we have our support base behind us, we will be able to edge ahead. We have to play the right type of rugby at the right times in the match and I am confident of that. We have experience in play-offs and we have big game players, so we will be ready,” Potgieter said.

Teams:

Bulls

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

Substitutes: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Morne Mellett, 19 Paul Willemse, 20 Jono Ross, 21 Jano Vermaak, 22 Jürgen Visser

Brumbies

15. Jesse Mogg, 14. Henry Speight, 13. Tevita Kuridrani, 12. Christian Lealiifano, 11. Clyde Rathbone, 10. Matt Toomua, 9. Nic White, 8. Ben Mowen (captain), 7. George Smith, 6. Peter Kimlin, 5. Sam Carter, 4. Scott Fardy, 3. Ben Alexander, 2. Stephen Moore, 1. Scott Sio

Substitutes: 16. Siliva Siliva, 17. Ruan Smith, 18. Fotu Auelua, 19. Colby Faingaa, 20. Ian Prior, 21. Andrew Smith, 22. Joe Tomane