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Pretoria - The Bulls have named two squads for Saturday's warm-up matches against the Lions and Sharks.
A Blue Bulls XV will face the Lions at Ellis Park (15:00 kick-off), while the Bulls tackle the Sharks at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane at 18:00.
Bulls head coach John Mitchell named a 26-man squad for the trip to Polokwane but he has not included Lood de Jager, Jesse Kriel, Handre Pollard or Warrick Gelant, who all toured with the Springboks to Europe in November.
There will also be a return to action for former Springbok captain, Adriaan Strauss. The hooker made a successful comeback to rugby for the Barbarians in November last year after a layoff following the 2017Super Rugby season.
Bulls team for trip to Polokwane (v Sharks):
15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Jano Venter, 21 Roelof Smit, 22 Andre Warner, 23 Marnitz Boshoff, 24 Franco Naude, 25 Jamba Ulengo, 26 Duncan Matthews
Meanwhile, No 8 Boom Prinsloo will lead the Blue Bulls XV that will travel to Johannesburg.
Coach David Manual included a number of players with Super Rugby experience in the squad, including the likes of Ulrich Beyers, Dries Swanepoel, Abongile Nonkontwana and Edgar Marutlulle, but will also give playing opportunities to a number of exciting youngsters that excelled in the Blue Bulls age group teams last year.
Blue Bulls XV to travel to Johannesburg (v Lions):
15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Irvin Ali, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Heino Bezuidenhout, 11 Andell Loubser, 10 Tony Jantjies, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Boom Prinsloo (captain), 7 Rickert Korff, 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Abongile Nonkontwana, 4 Ewan Coetzee, 3 Matthys Basson, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Dewald Maritz
Substitutes: 16 Nqoba Mxoli, 17 John-Roy Jenkinson, 18 Simphiwe Matanzima, 19 Thomas Meyer, 20 Pieter Diergaardt, 21 Adre Smit, 22 Oderich Mouton, 23 Vaughen Isaacs, 24 Lian du Toit, 25 Garrick Matthews, 26 Jerome Bossr, 27 Christiaan Strydom, 28 Earll Douwrie, 29 Gareth Heidtmann
