Kriel shifts back to favoured spot
Kriel, who started at centre in the Round Five 30-27 win over the Sunwolves, replaces Warrick Gelant – who has been ruled out of action due to a broken jaw sustained in the same match, in a revised back three.
There is another forced change in the back three as the injured Bjorn Basson is replaced by Jamba Ulengo while Travis Ismaiel returns to the starting XV at right wing.
With Kriel's move to fullback, the midfield pairing of Jan Serfontein and Burger Odendaal will be reunited. There could be a potential debut for SP Marais, who takes Serfontein's place on the bench.
No.8 Lappies Labuschagne is back to full fitness and is named on the bench pending a late test, with Nic De Jager as possible cover, should Labuschagne pull out. Scrumhalf Piet van Zyl has been released to the Currie Cup team for match fitness and Ivan van Zyl will deputise at scrumhalf.
Coach Nollis Marais believes his team is due a solid performance.
"We have to get it right. We are battling to put together 80 minutes of rugby at a time. We have been lucky so far that it did not come back to bite us, but we cannot continue like that if we have title ambitions. We need to sustain our first half effort and the players are very aware of that," Marais said.
Captain Adriaan Strauss is expecting another tough and typical local derby.
"The Cheetahs will be pumped to come here [to Loftus] and beat us. This is one of their big matches of the year and if we cannot repel their enthusiasm and commitment by producing our own 80 minute effort, we will be in trouble.
"Luckily, the team is very aware of that. We are playing at home and have the expectations of our fans, but also the drive from within the team to deliver a good performance," Strauss said.
Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jan Serfontein, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Arno Botha, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Pierre Schoeman, 19 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 20 Lappies Labuschagne/Nic de Jager, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 SP Marais.
Date: Saturday, April 2
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Shuhei Kubo (Japan), Ben Crouse (South Africa)
TMO: Willie Vos (South Africa)
