Injury setback for Bulls
The Bulls revealed, on their social media channel, that Hanro Liebenberg suffered a hamstring strain.
Liebenberg was initially named to start at No.8, but Namibian captain Renaldo Bothma would now come in to take his place.
* Meanwhile it was also revealed that Bulls lock Jason Jenkins will have a stint with Japanese club Verblitz after the Super Rugby season.
Jenkins will return to the Bulls ahead of next year's Super Rugby tournament.
The Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd also confirmed that a handful of stars in the squad extended their stay with the team by signing extensions to their current contracts.
Liebenberg is one of those who extended his stay at Loftus Versfeld.
Others include Junior Springboks Ivan van Zyl, Travis Ismaiel and Dries Swanepoel – who all signed two year extensions.
This follows the news earlier in the week that Springbok Lodewyk de Jager extended his stay in Pretoria and Johannes Prinsloo joined the squad from the Cheetahs at the beginning of the month.
"The extensions of these squad members show that high quality players still want to continue their career and fulfil their dreams at the Bulls," BBC High Performance Manager Xander Janse van Rensburg said.
"They are amongst the best in their positions in the country and it is a huge vote of confidence on our management and structures that they see their future with us. Their decision to extend their careers with us is also driven by a desire to play for South Africa in future and it is great that they see the Bulls as the vehicle to take them there."
Janse van Rensburg also announced another BlitzBok signing after Prinsloo joined this month.
Current BlitzBok Tim Agaba will be joining the Pretoria outfit in June.
The Olympic bronze medallist will still play with the BlitzBoks in the last two tournaments of the current Sevens World Series (in Paris and London) before moving north to join his new team mates in Pretoria.
Agaba also represented SA Students, EP Kings and NMMU Madibaz earlier in his career, before taking up a national sevens contract.
Janse van Rensburg also confirmed that flyhalf Tian Schoeman will be leaving for French club Bordeaux at the end of the season.
"We are sad to see Tian go as he has been a wonderful servant to the Bulls and Blue Bulls, but we understand his career choice.
"He was always going to be an understudy here and now gets the opportunity to go to a club where he can start and become their pivot. We wish him well and believe he will make a success over there as well. That said, he still has some pretty important matches to play for us as well!"
Bulls – revised: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Nick de Jager, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Jannes Kirsten, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Jan Serfontein.
Date: Saturday, May 6
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 17.15 (15.15 GMT; 03.15, Sunday May 7, NZ time)
Referee: Nic Berry (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Federico Anselmi (Argentina), AJ Jacobs (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)
#BULvCRU Renaldo Bothma will be replacing Hanro Liebenberg at No8 (Hamstring strain)
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) May 5, 2017
