Team Announcement: Bulls vs Stormers

Bulls have announced a strong matchday 23 that will do battle against the DHL Stormers in round 14 of the  2022/23 Vodacom United Rugby Championship, in Pretoria. The herd sees minimal changes in the front, with a number of forced changes to the back.

The clash between these two South African rugby titans is set for Loftus Versfeld with kick-off scheduled for 17h05pm in the afternoon.

The Pretoria outfit are still without the services of Springbok duo, Canan Moodie and Kurt-Lee Arendse, who are still on a rest break whilst creative midfielder, Johan Goosen recovers from a successful shoulder surgery that will see him side-lined for up to six weeks.

Lock, Jacques Du Plessis, is the only change in the forward pack from the matchday squad that lined up against Welsh side, Scarletts. At the back, Director of Rugby, Jake White has made a number of changes, with Zak Burger and Chris Smith combining at half-back. In the midfield, Harold Vorster and Wandisile Simelane pair up as inside and outside centre’s respectively.

Speedstar, Sbu Nkosi returns into the fold to start at left wing whilst Cornal Hendricks gets a run on the right with David Kriel shifting to full-back.

Jan-Hendrick Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Francois Klopper, Ruan Vermaak,  Nizaam Carr, Embrose Papier, Morne Steyn and Lionel Mapoe will all get the opportunity their run from the bench.

Steyn, will run out for his 150^th club game in the Vodacom Super Rugby and United Rugby Championship era, a feat only achieved by a select few players. The Springbok and Vodacom Bulls legend has spent the last 14 years applying his trade in Pretoria, earning his unrivalled icon status across South Africa’s rugby-loving communities.

Stormers

There are two changes to the Stormers forward pack for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship encounter with the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.

Hooker Scarra Ntubeni and flank Willie Engelbrecht come into the starting line-up for the North-South clash, which kicks off at 17h05 on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.

The starting backline that did duty in the 46-19 win against the Cell C Sharks in Durban a fortnght ago is unchanged, while utility forward Ernst van Rhyn makes his return from injury on the replacements bench.

DHL Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Gary Porter, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Brok Harris.
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Junior Pokomela, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu