Marcel van der Merwe will start for the Vodacom Bulls in Saturday’s clash with the Sharks, while Kurt-Lee Arendse returns on the wing.

There are two changes to the forward pack, with Van der Merwe and Elrigh Louw starting ahead of Boks Trevor Nyakane and Arno Botha, who drop to the bench.

Van der Merwe rejoined the Bulls from French club Toulon earlier this year.

Meanwhile in the backline, David Kriel shifts to fullback – his preferred position – in place of the injured of Gio Aplon.

Springbok Travis Ismaiel will take over from Kriel on the right wing while Blitzbok Arendse will also get his first opportunity in Super Rugby Unlocked.

There is also a new centre combination as Springbok Cornal Hendricks shifts back to inside centre while Blitzbok Stedman Gans will man the outside-centre channel on game day.

The final change in the backline has Ivan van Zyl and Embrose Papier swapping places, with the latter shifting to the bench.

‘We’ve got another opportunity this week against the Sharks but we need to be better than we were in Bloemfontein. We cannot afford to depend on a late comeback to save our graces which means dominating all phases of play from the first kick-off,’ Bulls coach Jake White said.

Bulls – 15 David Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8. Duane Vermeulen (c), 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Sub: 16 Joe van Zyl, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Sintu Manjezi, 20 Arno Botha, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Photo: Gallo Images