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Bulls coach opts for consistency

Pretoria - Bulls coach John Mitchell has named his team for Saturday's Super Rugby encounter against the Melbourne Rebels at Loftus Versfeld.

Kick-off is at 15:05.

Mitchell has made one injury enforced change to the team that thumped the Sharks 40-10 in Durban last weekend.

Hanro Liebenberg is sidelined for an extended period with a knee injury which sees Marco van Staden move from flank to No 8, with Roelof Smit taking the No 6 jersey from Van Staden.

Shaun Adendorff takes Smit's spot on the bench.

Smit, Van Staden and Thembelani Bholi will start together as a loose forward combination for the first time this season, although they did so for most of the match in Durban after Liebenberg left the field injured.
 
“We are back again at Loftus Versfeld and playing in front of our home fans. We have another opportunity to show that we are a team that play until the very end and that is an exciting opportunity for this squad. We are gaining some momentum and are improving all the time. We are not the finished product yet though and hard work and commitment remains important for us," Mitchell said.

Teams:

Bulls

15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Johnny Kotze, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Divan Rossouw, Handre Pollard, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Marco van Staden, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Pierre Schoeman

Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Jason Jenkins, 20 Shaun Adendorff, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Duncan Matthews

Rebels

15 Dane Haylett-Petty, 14 Jack Maddocks, 13 Tom English, 12 Reece Hodge, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Jack Debreczeni, 9 Michael Ruru, 8 Amanaki Mafi, 7 Angus Cottrell, 6 Ross Haylett-Petty, 5 Adam Coleman (captain), 4 Matt Philip, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Anaru Rangi, 1 Tetera Faulkner

Substitutes: 16 Jordan Uelese, 17 Fereti Sa’aga, 18 Jermaine Ainsley, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Richard Hardwick, 21 Harrison Goddard, 22 Billy Meakes, 23 Sefa Naivalu

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