Vodacom Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has made four changes, all of them up front, for Saturday's match against the Crusaders at Loftus Versfeld.
Props Morné Mellett and Trevor Nyakane have been restored to the starting XV after starting last weekend's victory over the Force on the bench. Dean Greyling and Marcel van der Merwe will provide cover from the bench.
Elsewhere in the pack, Arno Botha and Victor Matfield have been promoted from the bench, with Lappies Labuschagne and Grant Hattingh making way. Labuschagne failed to recover from a chest injury, meaning Hanro Liebenberg will provide loose forward cover on the bench.
Ludeke is well aware that the Crusaders have started to build momentum after a shaky start to the season.
'We did a lot of things well against the Force, but our execution and defence were lacking,' he said. 'We failed to deliver the knock-out punch when they had 13 men on the field. It's a mindset as well, but few challenges are greater than beating the Crusaders, so I am pretty sure the guys will be up for it. It certainly showed in this week’s training.'
Bulls – 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handrè Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Pierre Spies (c), 7 Arno Botha, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Morné Mellet.
Subs: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Grant Hattingh, 20 Hanro Liebenberg, 21 Piet van Zyl, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Jürgen Visser.
Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
