Bulls rotate their pack

 

Ludeke's hand was forced through injury and the South African Rugby Union rest agreement, which ruled all of Jan Serfontein, Handré Pollard, Deon Stegmann, Dean Greyling, Victor Matfield and Pieter Labuschagne out of contention for the final match of the tournament.

 

Matfield will be replaced by Grant Hattingh and Labuschagne by Arno Botha at flank, while Greyling’s place will be taken by Morné Mellett. Adriaan Strauss, who was rested last weekend against the Rebels, is back at hooker, with Callie Visagie moving to the bench. 

 

Ludeke also called Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg and Roelof Smit into the squad again to cover for Deon Stegmann and Hattingh. The backline remain unchanged from their defeat to the Rebels. 

 

Centre JJ Engelbrecht will be the only player in the team who started in the same position in all 16 matches in 2015. Francois Hougaard also started in all 16 matches, but played left and right wing.

 

Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Arno Botha, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Morné Mellett. 

Replacements: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Roelof Smit, 20 Bjorn Basson, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Jurgen Visser, 23 Werner Kruger.

 

Date: Saturday, June 13

Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Kick-off: 17.05 (15.05 GMT)

Referee: Craig Joubert

Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha, Ben Crouse

TMO: Willie Vos