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Pretoria - Bulls captain Burger Odendaal says they are wary of the threats posed by the Rebels ahead of their Super Rugby clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
After a promising start to the season - which saw them win four of their first five games - the men from Melbourne have suffered two successive home defeats to the Hurricanes (50-18) and Jaguares (25-22).
They however remain sixth on the overall standings - seven points clear of the eighth-placed Bulls.
The Bulls are on a high after two impressive wins over the Stormers (33-23) and Sharks (40-10) but will not be underestimating the Rebels.
“We have seen them playing some really good rugby so far this season. They are a well-drilled unit and are getting better and better as the season progresses. We need to keep on improving as well, as we have set our standards very high and we are not where we want to be yet,” Odendaal said on Thursday.
The Bulls skipper added that they were looking forward to playing at Loftus Versfeld.
“The players also welcomed back the home crowd. Nothing beats playing at Loftus. We are lucky to have passionate support and I sincerely hope the crowds will turn up to get behind us.”
Kick-off for Satueday's clash is scheduled for 15:05.
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
