JOHANNESBURG – Vodacom Bulls coach John Mitchell on Thursday named a larger than normal squad to take on the Jaguares at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.
The game will be the Bulls' final pre-season warm-up against outside opposition, before heading into the much anticipated Vodacom Super Rugby season.
Springbok lock Lood De Jager will captain the run-on squad, which will also include fellow Springboks, Marnitz Boshoff and Trevor Nyakane.
The extended bench will also boast a host of Springboks including Warrick Gelant, Jesse Kriel and Handre Pollard, with Roelof Smit and RG Snyman also no strangers to the Green and Gold.
The match will see a return to action for the likes of Gelant, Pollard and Kriel, who toured with the Springboks to Europe in November. Jason Jenkins, who returned from Japanese club duties, will also be eager to get a bit of game time off the bench.
Bulls matchday line-up:
15 Manie Libbok, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Francois Brummer, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Jano Venter, 7 Themba Bholi, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lodewyk de Jager (captain), 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Trevor Nyakane.
Replacements: Warrick Gelant, Divan Rossouw, Jesse Kriel, Burger Odendaal, Johnny Kotze, Handre Pollard, Andre Warner, Hanro Liebenberg, Jason Jenkins, Roelof Smit, Rudolph Snyman, Conraad van Vuuren, Jaco Visagie, Pierre Schoeman. Jan-Henning Campher, Matthys Basson, Lizo Gqoboka, Eli Snyman, Shaun Adendorff, Theo Maree, JT Jackson, Franco Naude, Andell Loubser.