Bulls change one for Cheetahs
Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar made one enforced change to his line-up for Friday's Currie Cup match against the Free State Cheetahs.
Arno Botha, who started in the 35-20 win over Griquas last Friday, is out with a hamstring injury and CJ Stander will travel to Bloemfontein to start in the No.7 jersey.
Stander, who played off the bench at Loftus Versfeld last week, will in turn be replaced by hard-working fetcher Warwick Tecklenburg, who will earn a first start in the 2012 competition.
Pienaar confirmed a need for continuity as the main reason behind his thinking.
"We won well against Griquas and the players need to be rewarded for that, but more important for me at this stage of the competition are for the team to get some momentum, cohesion and continuity," the coach said.
"I was very pleased with the way the bench played as well, so is happy with the balance as we have it right now. "
Blue Bulls captain Dewald Potgieter was keen to get going.
"There is an excitement around the Currie Cup and what we can do as a relatively young team. We had a good start, but the challenge for us will be to go to Bloemfontein and get a result," Potgieter said.
"We need to be looking for improvement all the way and playing the Cheetahs at home will be a good test of our abilities and how shape up as a team when under pressure."
Blue Bulls: 15 Jürgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Ulrich Beyers, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Clayton Blommetjies, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Ruan Snyman, 8 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 7 CJ Stander, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Warwick Tecklenburg, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Lionel Cronjé, 22 Jan Serfontein.
Date: Friday, August 17
Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Sindile Mayende
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Gerrie Coetzee
