PRETORIA – Jason Jenkins will start at lock alongside captain Lood de Jager on Saturday when the Bulls take on the Sharks in a pre-season friendly in Ballito.
The match will also see Hanro Liebenberg and André Warner after both returned from their loan spells in France.
Liebenberg and Warner will play off the bench in a team that showed numerous changes from the one that played in Cape Town last weekend.
Only Warrick Gelant, Jesse Kriel, Handré Pollard, Duane Vermeulen, De Jager and the front row of Trevor Nyakane, Schalk Britz and Lizo Gqoboka will be in the starting team again.
Dylan Sage, Embrose Papier, Thembelani Bholi, and Ruan Steenkamp played off the bench last weekend, but earn starts this time around.
Wings Cornal Hendricks and Rosko Specman played in the warm-up match against the Lions two weeks ago, but were not involved in Cape Town.
Bulls coach Pote Human said the match is another important step towards their final preparations for the Super Rugby competition.
“We did some good things last weekend, and this is another step towards fine-tuning the squad. Obviously, we will be trying to have a better start this week,” said Human.
“The bad start last weekend when we conceded some soft tries early, forced us to play catch-up rugby.
“We responded well, but I would not like to see a repeat of that.”
Jenkins, Liebenberg and Warner back with #BullsFamily.
Jason Jenkins will start at lock with Lood de Jager on Saturday when the Vodacom Bulls take on the Cell C Sharks in Ballito.
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— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) February 7, 2019
Bulls Team
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Dylan Sage, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Lood de Jager (captain), 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Schalk Britz, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Bench:16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Matthys Basson, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Hanro Liebenberg, 20 Paul Schoeman, 21 Jannes Kirsten, 22 Tim Agaba, 23 André Warner, 24 JT Jackson, 25 Jade Stighling, 26 Divan Rossouw.