Vodacom Bulls director of rugby Jake White has opted for continuity in the starting lineup to face the Pumas in Nelspruit on Tuesday.

Springbok Nizaam Carr continues in his role as captain which he performed superbly against the EP Elephants. The starting team is unchanged and focused on adding to their impressive form of last weekend.

The bench has been shuffled to allow more game time with Nolan Pienaar, Bernard van der Linde, Clinton Swart, Henco Beukes, Willie Potgieter and Richard Kriel all set to add a powerful blow to the opposition later in the match.

‘The boys did well last week and the coaching management were impressed with how they kept to the plan, even when the game opened up,’ White said.

‘It could have become a free-for-all once we got legroom on the scoreboard but we want to simulate in-competition scenarios to help us better prepare for upcoming competitions and I must commend Nizaam and his leadership group for keeping the players focused on the objectives and outcomes we wanted to achieve.

‘This week will be no different and although the starting team hasn’t changed much, there’s a ton of new faces on the bench that want their boots on the field and to put their names forward. The last time we travelled to Nelspruit with a rather young and inexperienced team, we lost badly to a powerful and well-oiled Pumas bunch. I’m looking forward to seeing how this group has developed since then. We’re excited to get to Nelspruit and play our brand of rugby.’

Bulls – 15 David Kriel, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Marnus Potgieter, 12 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 WJ Steenkamp, 7 Tim Agaba, 6 Nizaam Carr (c), 5 Janko Swanepoel, 4 Jan Uys, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Joe van Zyl, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Subs: 16 Janco Uys, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Nolan Pienaar, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Werner Gouws, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Clinton Swart, 23 Richard Kriel, 24 Henco Beukes, 25 Willie Potgieter, 26 Dawid Kellerman.

Photo: Gallo Images