Discarded Bok to lead Bulls
Dewald Potgieter, who is surplus to requirements at national level, will lead the Blue Bulls in their Currie Cup opener against Griquas at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
The versatile loose forward, who played the last of his six Tests in July 2010, will play No.8 on Friday.
Potgieter, who can play in any of the lose forward positions, will play his 54th Currie Cup match for the Bulls.
He will have a number of rookies behind him though, with coach Pine Pienaar forced to pick numerous youngsters due to injuries and national call-ups.
Ulrich Beyers, Clayton Blommetjies and Cornell Hess will all start in their first Currie Cup match, while Robbie Coetzee, Grant Hattingh and Jan Serfontein will do so if they are called off the bench.
Hattingh moved to the Bulls this month after playing Super Rugby for the Lions this year.
Pienaar said Griquas, with much more settled look to their squad, will present a tough hurdle for the Bulls.
"Griquas have been together now for seven months and get players like Justin Downey and Willie le Roux back from Super Rugby," the Bulls' mentor said.
"Add the two former Blue Bulls, Stefan Watermeyer and JP Nel in their midfield, and it becomes clear that we will have to play well if we want the result.
"These players have all shown the appetite to embrace challenges in the past, so I am expecting the same attitude again from them," Pienaar added.
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 Arno Botha, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Cornell Hess, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 CJ Stander, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Lionel Cronjé, 22 Jan Serfontein.
Date: Friday, August 10
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Rasta Rashivenga
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert, Attie Buitendag
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
