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Pretoria - Bulls coach Nollis Marais has drafted in Jason Jenkins to replace the injured Lood de Jager and swapped around Lizo Gqoboka and Pierre Schoeman in the Bulls team that will take on the Cheetahs in the second round of Super Rugby on Saturday.
These are the only two changes to the starting side that lost against the Stormers in Cape Town last weekend.
De Jager's unavailability due to concussion will see Jenkins combining with RG Snyman at lock.
The duo played together in seven matches in last year's tournament and both scored tries when they last faced the Cheetahs in a 23-18 win at Loftus.
Bothma will fill the vacancy on the bench left by the promotion of Jenkins.
In an early rotational switch by Marais, Pierre Schoeman and Lizo Gqoboka swap around, with the Springbok tourist from last year starting and Schoeman, a try-scorer against the Stormers, coming off the bench.
Marais pulled no punches about the opening weekend in Cape Town.
"We were outplayed by a better team on the day. It was a very good reality check and lessons were learned. We need to show that we can learn from mistakes and improve on them," Marais said.
"The Cheetahs will be hurting after that close loss to the Lions last weekend and will be motivated in what happened in our last match in Bloemfontein.
"I have no doubt that this group of Bulls players are good enough to be real contenders, but that belief will be tested by a side that refuses to give up or accept defeat.
"We have another massive challenge ahead of us, but I can honestly say that everyone in the squad is looking forward to this."
Bulls captain Handré Pollard scored 29 points against the Cheetahs the last time he faced them in Bloemfontein, but is adamant that everyone is on a clean slate this time around.
"What you achieved in the past means nothing if you don't deliver your A-game every time, something myself and the team realised again last weekend in Cape Town. We need to produce come Saturday, with a performance that will do justice to the hard work done, but also to justify the support of our fans and the backing from our coaches. In short, we need to show that we are serious to win this competition," Pollard insisted.
Teams:
Cheetahs
TBA
Bulls
15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Handre Pollard (captain), 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Nic de Jager, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Substitutes: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Pierre Schoeman, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Renaldo Bothma, 20 Ruan Steenkamp, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Warrick Gelant
