Mitchell names unchanged Bulls team to battle Lions

Pretoria - Bulls coach John Mitchell named an unchanged squad to face the Lions in their Super Rugby clash at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday (17:15 kick-off).

The Bulls opened their campaign with a 21-19 win over the Hurricanes last weekend and the same 23 players will again take the field for this Jukskei derby.

"The guys really showed a lot of courage last weekend, but that is what you expect from a Bulls player. More encouraging to me was the belief shown by the guys in how we wanted to execute and play the game. You need to trust the process and each other and that was what happened,” Mitchell explained.

Fullback Warrick Gelant was a late withdrawal last weekend and was replaced by debutant, Divan Rossouw and Mitchell indicated that the Springbok would not be rushed back.

"There is no need for that. Warrick will be back when he is fit and ready. Divan did very well, in fact, the debutants all showed a good appetite for rugby at this level."

Bulls co-captain Burger Odendaal feels that another step-up is needed against the Lions, who topped the tournament log in 2017.

"They have been solid for a number of seasons now and clearly brought that confidence into their play in 2018. This will be a typical derby with no favours asked or extended and we are all looking forward to this game. We have the advantage of the match being played at Loftus Versfeld and we urge our fans to come out in numbers to support. We are playing for them as much as we are playing for ourselves as a squad.”

Teams:

Bulls

15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (co-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 (co-captain), 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Duncan Matthews

Lions

15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley (captain), 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Cyle Brink, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen

Substitutes: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Marnus Schoeman, 21 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 22 Harold Vorster, 23 Madosh Tambwe