Visagie starts for Bulls
Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke made two rotational changes to his team for his side's Currie Cup clash against the Pumas in Nelspruit.
Callie Visagie and Rudy Paige take their places in the starting XV at the expense of Piet van Zyl and Bongi Mbonambi, who started against the Free State a week ago.
"We need to win to stay in the competition, so we approach this as a knock-out match.
"We are in a fortunate position that we had very little interruption in our preparations this week with injuries, so the squad could really focus on the task awaiting us. The Pumas has shown to be formidable opponents at home and this will be a huge challenge. We have showed good tenacity and character last week and we will need more of the same in Nelspruit," he said.
Vodacom Blue Bulls captain Deon Stegmann is hoping the strong finish in Bloemfontein will help repel the Pumas.
"We had to dig deep and use our heads as well as our hearts. We need to take that positive momentum into Nelspruit and make sure the Pumas don't get a jump on us. They will be tough customers if they build up steam, so we need to start well."
Blue Bulls: 15 Ulrich Beyers, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann (captain), 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Morné Mellett, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Wiaan Liebenberg, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Jesse Kriel.
Date: Friday, October 3
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Kick-off: 19.10
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: Rasta Rasivhenge, Sieg van Staden
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
