CAPE TOWN – Bulls coach Jake White has refreshed his team for Friday night’s Currie Cup clash against the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld, with former Lions centre Harold Vorster in line for his debut for his new side.
White made almost as many changes as he could from the line-up that went down 35-8 to Benetton in last week’s Rainbow Cup final.
With a makeshift Bulls outfit having also lost 48-24 to Western Province in the Currie Cup last weekend, the Pretoria side would not want to suffer another defeat on their home ground.
Vorster comes in at No 13 for Marco Jansen van Vuren, while veteran Gio Aplon gets an opportunity at fullback in place of David Kriel after playing off the bench in Treviso.
The other changes come in the pack of forwards, with Janko Swanepoel replacing Jan Uys at lock, while Schalk Erasmus and Lizo Gqoboka bolster the front row in order to give Johan Grobbelaar and Gerhard Steenekamp a breather.
“The young and inexperienced group fought hard last weekend against a quality Province team, and even though the result didn’t go our way, they still managed to secure a bonus point,” White said on Thursday.
“This weekend is a big game for us, and we will be looking to get back to winning ways. The Pumas are coming off the back of a good win (against the Lions), and they will be looking to hurt us, but we know what is expected of us.”
Bulls Team
15 Gio Aplon 14 Madosh Tambwe 13 Harold Vorster 12 Cornal Hendricks 11 Stravino Jacobs 10 Chris Smith 9 Ivan van Zyl 8 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 7 Ruan Nortjé 6 Nizaam Carr 5 Janko Swanepoel 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Schalk Erasmus 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Bench: 16 Sidney Tobias 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Jacques van Rooyen 19 Muller Uys 20 WJ Steenkamp 21 Zak Burger 22 FC du Plessis 23 David Kriel.
IOL Sport