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No rest for Matfield

Cape Town - The Bulls are unlikely to rest Victor Matfield for their Super Rugby derby against the Stormers at Newlands this Saturday.

The men from Pretoria still have a very slim chance of reaching the playoffs, and will therefore pick their strongest possible team for the Cape Town trip.

According to the Beeld website, it's unlikely that skipper Matfield will be rested for the game despite playing a lot of rugby in the last while. He captained the Boks in all four of their June internationals in the absence of Jean de Villiers.

Matfield, who came out of retirement this year, has already played more rugby than initially anticipated, so it would have been wise to give him a rest.

But the Bulls are without Flip van der Merwe (knee) for the rest of the season, so resting Matfield is simply not an option.

Paul Willemse is expected to take Van der Merwe's place, with young Baby Bok star Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg likely to be a substitute.

Flyhalf Handré Pollard, who made his senior Springbok debut last weekend, is also likely to start as Francois Hougaard's halfback partner. Pollard has also played a lot of rugby in the last while, having recently led the Baby Boks to the IRB Junior World Championship final in New Zealand.

Kick-off for Saturday's clash at Newlands is scheduled for 17:05.
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