VIDEO: Bulls rush Boks back for Crusaders
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: The Bulls have rushed back a couple of Springboks for their Super Rugby crunch match against the Crusaders on Friday.
Coach Pote Human made six changes to the starting XV that beat the Waratahs at Loftus Versfeld last week.
Springboks Schalk Brits and Jason Jenkins are both back in the Bulls pack.
Brits has served a four-week suspension and will start at hooker, while Jenkins is fit again following injury.
Like Brits, he last played for the Bulls in their 19-16 win over the Sharks at the end of March.
They replace Jaco Visagie and Jannes Kirsten respectively, with Visagie dropping to the bench and Kirsten moving into the No.7 jersey in place of injured Hanro Liebenberg.
Human two changes to the backline as well.
In a rotational change, Ivan van Zyl drops out of the matchday 23 and will be replaced by André Warner at scrumhalf in the starting team, while Warner’s place on the bench is taken by Embrose Papier.
Burger Odendaal, who was a late withdrawal from last weekend’s clash against the Waratahs, has been declared fit and he will start at centre in place of Dylan Sage, who drops out of the matchday squad altogether.
Odendaal and Kotze will man the midfield against the New Zealand outfit.
* Continue reading below …
Human welcomed the return of his two Springboks in the pack.
“Schalk has been itching to play for the last couple of weeks and he will be very keen,” the coach said.
“Jason also recovered well and looked very sharp in training. Both are players of international standard, so it is great to have them back.”
Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Handré Pollard (captain), 9 Andre Warner, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Rudolph Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Wiehan Herbst, 19 Thembelani Bholi, 20 Paul Schoeman, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw.
Date: Friday, May 10
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT; 05.10, Saturday, May 11 NZ time)
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper, Egon Seconds
TMO: Willie Vos
