The Vodacom Bulls will be keen to start the season on a winning note against Edinburgh Rugby after their six-game winning run in the competition ended with their defeat to Glasgow in last season's final.
After reaching two finals in the first three seasons of the Vodacom URC, the Bulls now embark on a quest to go that one step further and claim the title.
The Vodacom Bulls will fancy their chances against Edinburgh, who have won only two of their last 10 Vodacom URC matches against South African opponents, both at home in Scotland, to the Emirates Lions and Vodacom Bulls late last year.
Furthermore, the last three encounters between these two teams have been won by the home side.
Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White said “I am really happy that we have a lot of Vodacom Bulls guys playing for the Springboks and it is nice to have Canan and Grobbies back because they have international experience, and they can bring that back to us and the more players we can have with international experience and the kind of pressure they have experienced at that level will help us in our environment” comments White on the return of the Springbok duo.
On Goosen’s absence and Jaco starting: “It is quite nice to have Jaco available for us against Edinburgh, a club where he was and will know a lot of their players. He is an international player, which is why we signed him and Boeta [Chamberlain] so that a guy like Goosen does not have to play 80 minutes each week.”
On David Kriel at fullback and Barend Smit at centre, White said: “David was at fullback before I moved him to centre and a guy like Barend Smit had a brilliant Currie Cup so he deserves a start which gives me flexibility with the backs that we have,”
“The back three is important for us this weekend and how we want to play with their specific skillset. Then you have a guy like Aphiwe on the bench which gives you the confidence going into the match.”
Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt will be looking for an improvement in his team’s kicking game after pointing to that as the main problem area following the 33-31 defeat at home to Leinster last weekend.
Teams
Vodacom Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Barend Smit, 11 Sebastian de Klerk, 10 Jaco van der Walt, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Armand van der Merwe (c), 1 Alulutho Tshakweni. Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Kloppers, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Marcel Coetzee, 21 Keegan Johannes, 22 Boeta Chamberlain, 23 Aphiwe Dyantyi.
Edinburgh Rugby: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ali Price, 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 Boan Venter, 18 D’arcy Rae, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Tom Dodd, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Ben Healy, 23 Ross McCann.