Cape Town – Elrigh Louw will return to No 8 for the Bulls in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship clash against the Stormers, but regular captain Marcell Coetzee will play off the bench.
The hard-running Louw played most of his rugby at the back of the scrum last year, but was picked in his old blindside flank position for last week's Currie Cup win over the Pumas.
But Jake White named Louw at No 8 once more when he announced his team on Friday, which sees Arno Botha shifting to No 6 instead, while Coetzee is among the replacements after leading the Currie Cup side to victory against Western Province on Wednesday.
Youngster Reinhardt Ludwig, who is highly rated in Pretoria, will don the No 7 jersey at Loftus Versfeld (5.05pm kickoff).
White will be delighted to have first-choice tighthead prop Mornay Smith at No 3 after he missed the last URC game against the Sharks in December, where the Bulls battled in the scrums in a 30-16 defeat.
There has been a bit of a shuffle in the backline from the Pumas match as well, with Kurt-Lee Arendse going back to his familiar left wing spot, while David Kriel returns to the No 15 jersey.
Cornal Hendricks will captain the side, and he will be partnered by Lionel Mapoe in midfield, while Chris Smith continues at flyhalf, with veteran pivot Morné Steyn on the bench.
Bulls Team
15 David Kriel 14 Madosh Tambwe 13 Lionel Mapoe 12 Cornal Hendricks (captain) 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse 10 Chris Smith 9 Embrose Papier 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Reinhardt Ludwig 6 Arno Botha 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Bench: 16 Bismarck du Plessis 17 Lizo Gqoboka 18 Jacques van Rooyen 19 Janko Swanepoel 20 Marcell Coetzee 21 Zak Burger 22 Morné Steyn 23 Harold Vorster.
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