Pretoria - Springbok fullback Warrick Gelant is a late withdrawal from the Bulls team to face the Hurricanes in their Super Rugby opener at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Gelant was initially named to start at fullback but the Bulls announced on Friday that he has a slight knee niggle and had to be withdrawn.
Gelant's place at fullback is taken by Divan Rossouw, with Duncan Matthews coming in on the bench.
Kick-off for Saturday’s clash is scheduled for 17:15.
Teams:
Bulls
15 Divan Rossouw 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Johnny Kotze, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Nic de Jager, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Duncan Matthews
Hurricanes
15 Matt Proctor, 14 Julian Savea, 13 Vince Aso, 12 Ngani Laumape, 11 Wes Goosen, 10 Ihaia West, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Gareth Evans, 7 Ardie Savea, 6 Brad Shields (captain), 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Vaea Fifita, 3 Ben May, 2 Ricky Ricctelli, 1 Toby Smith
Substitutes: 16 James O'Reilly, 17 Chris Eves, 18 Alex Fidow, 19 Murray Douglas, 20 Blade Thomson, 21 Jamie Booth, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ben Lam
#BULvHUR Warrick Gelant has been pulled out of the match 23, due to a slight niggle to the knee. He will be replaced in the starting lineup by Divan Rossouw, with Duncan Matthews coming in at 23. #bullsfamily50k pic.twitter.com/yKlTGcclDQ
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) February 23, 2018