Bulls change it up for north-south derby
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Bulls have a ‘new’ captain and several changes to the team for their United Rugby Championship Round Eight encounter with the Stormers in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Bulls team shows sevens changes from the side that suffered a 16-30 loss to the Sharks in their last URC outing, in Durban back in early December.
Springbok centre, Cornal Hendricks, will captain the side this weekend.
He takes over the captaincy from Marcell Coetzee – who captained the Currie Cup team in a midweek win over Western Province and will play off the bench on Saturday.
Flank Reinhardt Ludwig will make his URC debut.
The 19-year-old, who has been a key figure in the Bulls’ Under-20 side over the past year, is an exciting addition to a strong Bulls side that will look to begin their 2022 campaign in the cross-hemisphere competition.
There will be no shortage of experience alongside him, with Arno Botha starting at openside flank, while Elrigh Louw will at No.8.
Tighthead prop Mornay Smith will make a return to the starting XV, where he will buckle down alongside loosehead prop Gerhard Steenekamp and hooker Johan Grobbelaar to make up the front row trio.
David Kriel makes a return to the familiar fullback position, combining with wings Kurt-Lee Arendse (moved from fullback) and Madosh Tambwe, to make up the back three.
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Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Lionel; Mapoe, 12 Cornal Hendricks (captain), 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Elrich Louw, 7 Reinhard Ludwig, 6 Arno Botha, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Jacques van Rooyen, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Marcel Coetzee, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Harold Vorster.
Date: Saturday, January 22
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 17.00 (15.00 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa), Morne Ferreira (South Africa)
TMO: Marius van der Westhuisen (South Africa)
