Engelbrecht replaces Small-Smith

 

The young centre injured his knee and suffered some bone bruising, ruling him out of the upcoming clash.

 

Meanwhile, the Light Blues welcomed captain Deon Stegmann following a week's suspension and was among six changes to the starting team that suffered a 26-15 defeat to the Sharks in Pretoria over the weekend.

 

Stegmann should bolster the team at the breakdowns where they were particularly vulnerable against the coastal side over the weekend.

 

He will replace Wiaan Liebenberg, who moves to the bench, while hooker Bongi Mbonambi will be the only other change to the pack as he comes in for the bench-bound Callie Visagie.

 

Bulls stalwart Akona Ndungane will be back on the right wing, which sees Sampie Mastriet move to the left as Bjorn Basson drops out of the match-day 22.

 

Meanwhile, fullback Ulrich Beyers is back in the run-on side after he was pulled from the Sharks match due to an undisclosed off-field indiscretion.

 

Ludeke fingered their faulty lineout against the Sharks as one of the biggest reasons for their defeat and believes they had fixed one of their traditional weapons ahead of the Cheetahs clash.

 

"The lineouts were a problem against the Sharks and that cost us dearly, we had enough in that game to win it but we couldn't apply and build pressure from the lineout and that cost us," he said.

 

"We are confident that we've rectified the issues that put us under pressure against the Sharks.

 

"We didn't get the result and the reason for that was a combination of losing the ball at the breakdown and the lineouts."

 

The Bulls mentor said he felt that his side was much better than the result reflected and they had taken some lessons from that defeat.

 

"We actually thought there were a lot of positives and we controlled that first half 100 percent and in the 38th minute they scored that intercept try then the game changed totally and in the second half we had opportunity then our lineouts collapsed," Ludeke said.

 

"Pressure will be vital this weekend because it will be knockout rugby and they are in the same situation as us and a team that can handle the pressure."

 

Blue Bulls: 15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Dean Greyling.

Replacments: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Morné Mellet, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Wiaan Liebenberg, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Tian Schoeman

22 Jesse Kriel.

 

Date: Friday, September 26

Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein

Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen 

Assistant referees: Lourens van der Merwe, Francois Pretorius

TMO: Willie Vos