The Bulls have suffered another injury blow ahead of the Super Rugby season, with hooker Bandise Maku picking up an Achilles injury.

According to SuperSport.com, Maku is set to be out of action for around four weeks, which would render him unavailable for the Bulls’  Super Rugby opener against the Stormers on 27 February.

The Bulls are already set to start the tournament without influential figures such as Handré Pollard and Deon Stegmann, who are recovering from a shoulder and ankle injury respectively.

A pre-season squad for the Bulls’ trip to Zimbabwe, where they will face the Cheetahs in Harare on 6 February, was named prior to their departure on Friday.

‘We are taking a fairly big squad because we want to involve a couple of younger players to our team culture and expose them to our patterns,’ coach Nolllis Marais said. ‘This is a great opportunity for us to really focus on our rugby objectives and I am keen to get started.’

Bulls touring squad: Bjorn Basson, Arno Botha, Francois Brummer, Nic de Jager, Warrick Gelant, Lizo Gqoboka, Riekert Hattingh, Grant Hattingh, Chris Hefer, Irne Herbst, Travis Ismaiel, JT Jackson, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Jason Jenkins, Jannes Kirsten, Jesse Kriel, Dan Kriel, Werner Kruger, Lappies Labuschagne, Hanro Liebenberg, Kefentse Mahlo, Nqobisiizwe Mxoli, Freddy Ngoza, Trevor Nyakane, Burger Odendaal, Marvin Orie, Rudy Paige, Handre Pollard, Divan Rossouw, Tian Schoeman, Pierre Schoeman, Jan Serfontein, Jade Stighling, RG Snyman, Adriaan Strauss, Dries Swanepoel, Jamba Ulengo, Callie Visagie, Jaco Visagie, Ivan van Zyl, Piet van Zyl, Marcel van der Merwe.

Photo: Johan Rynners/Gallo Images