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Cape Town - Centre Ruhan Nel and prop Corne Fourie are both set to make their Stormers debut in the Super Rugby clash against the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.
Nel starts in midfield alongside Damian de Allende and loosehead prop Fourie finds himself on the bench for the opening round encounter, which kicks off at 17:15 on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.
At the back, Dillyn Leyds links up with wings SP Marais and JJ Engelbrecht, with Jano Vermaak and Damian Willemse forming the halfback pairing.
Up front, hooker Bongi Mbonambi will be alongside props Ali Vermaak and Wilco Louw, while Salmaan Moerat and JD Schickerling are the starting lock duo.
Sikhumbuzo Notshe is at the back of the scrum, with 2018 SA Rugby Player of the Year Pieter-Steph du Toit and captain Siya Kolisi on the flanks.
Stormers head coach Robbie Fleck said that his team are focused on making it a convincing start to the 2019 Super Rugby campaign.
“Our preparations have gone well, so we are really excited to see what this combination will be able to do this weekend.
“We would obviously like to make a strong start to the season and will look to deliver in some of the areas we have been focused on in pre-season in order to do that,” he said.
Teams:
Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Johnny Kotze, 13 Jessie Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Lood de Jager (captain), 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Substitutes: 16 Corniel Els, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Thembelani Bholi, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Dylan Sage
Stormers
15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 JJ Engelbrecht, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 SP Marais, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak
Substitutes: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Kobus van Dyk, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Dan du Plessis
