Spies starts as Bulls change it up
Regular captain and No.8 Pierre Spies will start his first Super Rugby game in more than a year when he leads the Bulls against the Hurricanes in Pretoria on Friday.
Spies, who came off the bench in the 17-29 loss to the Stormers last week, has not started a game since he re-injured a bicep muscle in the opening round of the 2014 Super Rugby season – an injury he first suffered in June 2013.
After missing the rest of 2014, Spies was eased through the pre-season and despite being named captain for the season, Victor Matfield lead the team out against the Stormers last week.
Spies came off the bench in the second half and has now been entrusted with the captaincy against the high-flying Hurricanes – who easily disposed of the Lions last week.
Spies also takes over at No.8 from Arno Botha, who picked up a pectoral muscle injury last weekend.
The return of Spies is one of four changes to the starting line-up and six to the matchday 23 that started with a disappointing loss to their arch rivals.
Rookie loose forward Hanro Liebenberg, who could make his Super Rugby debut, comes onto the replacement in bench into the spot vacated by Spies' promotion.
The ankle injury to prop Werner Kruger also resulted in a front row shuffle.
Springbok Trevor Nyakane will move from loosehead to tighthead and Morne Mellett comes off the bench into the No.1 jersey.
A fit-again Dean Greyling will take Mellett's place on the bench.
The other change is at the back, where Jesse Kriel will start with Jurgen Visser moving to the bench.
This follows Visser's nightmare performance last week, when he gifted the Stormers a try that swung the momentum, after the Bulls controlled the opening exchanges. Visser's game went downhill from there.
This will be the first start for the former South African Under-20 star, Kriel, after two appearances off the bench.
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke admitted that the forced changes to his pack will add to the pressure that resulted from last week's poor result.
"There is always pressure and the fact that we have five frontline props out with injury does not make it any easier," Ludeke said.
"We have good depth though and we back our junior structures, so I am comfortable that we will be a very competitive outfit on Friday."
Spies also backed the young guns in the team.
"Yes, we have a couple of younger guys in the team, but they are definitely good enough to play here," Spies said.
"They bring lots of energy in the mix and we will need a healthy dose of that to compete on Friday against the Hurricanes, who will be full of confidence following their win last weekend."
A step-up from last weekend was also not negotiable, he insisted.
"We know we were not good enough. We did not play the important moments well and made silly errors that cost us dearly. Everyone is ready to make the step-up," the captain said.
Bulls: 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Pierre Spies (captain), 7 Pieter Labuschagne, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Morné Mellett.
Replacements: 16 Callie Visagie), 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Hanro Liebenberg, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 23 Jurgen Visser.
Date: Friday, February 20
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.19 (17.10 GMT; 06.10, Saturday, February 21 NZ time)
Referee: Andrew Lees (Australia)
Assistant referees: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia), Jaco van Heerden (South Africa)
TMO: Johan Greeff (South Africa)
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