The Vodacom Bulls will be hunting their fourth victory in a row this season when they take on the Scarlets on Friday at 20:35 (SA Time) who come off their first victory last week against Cardiff away.
They will, however, be mindful of the fact that they need to deliver an effective performance on attack and defence to topple the men from Pretoria who are in hot form and who showed their true character in a challenging second half against the Ospreys last week, in which they had to overcome a red card and two yellow cards to finish the match with 12 players with uncontested scrums to earn the 29-19 win.
The Vodacom Bulls’ confidence will be bolstered by the fact that they have scored 15 more points than the Scarlets in three outings to the Welsh outfit’s four, while they have also conceded 31 points fewer in these matches.
They will, however, be careful to write off the Scarlets, who played to a 20-20 draw against Benetton away in their opening game of the season, before suffering a nine-point defeat against Cardiff, and a heart-breaking one-point defeat against Glasgow on their home ground in their last two outings. These results will undoubtedly fuel their motivation to bounce back with a bang and to do their best to possibly lunge into the top eight on the standings.
The teams have met in the competition on three previous occasions with the Vodacom Bulls winning two of those matches, both in Pretoria with 57 points or more, but they suffered a 37-28 defeat against the Scarlets in Wales last season – a defeat they will certainly want to set right.
The Scarlets made two changes to the side that took the field for the win over Cardiff last weekend. At hooker, Wales international Ryan Elias swaps places with Marnus van der Merwe, while Max Douglas (pictured) has recovered from the illness that forced him to withdraw from the Arms Park clash. Douglas is named at blindside flanker for the BKT United Rugby Championship round five clash so skipper Josh Macleod switches to his favoured openside role.
Scarlets' forwards coach Albert van den Berg said: “The Bulls have got a great team, a lot of Springboks. They are physical, have a good scrum, good maul and their counter attack is also really good. I know Jake (White) well, having played under him. He will get them fired up, he has said in the media that this is their year to perform, and they will have the right mindset. But we will be ready for them, we like to take on the big teams and the big players, all the guys will be fired up for this one.”
Vodacom Bulls director of rugby, Jake White has rotated his side. Jan-hendrik Wessels will start at prop alongside skipper, Akker van der Merwe who will be at hooker with Wilco Louw completing the front row at 3. Ruan Vermaak has a new partner at lock in Cobus Wiese whilst Kuyenzeka Xaba comes in to pair up with Reinhardt Ludwig at flank. Cameron Hanekom slots in at eight.
Zak Burger gets a start at scrumhalf with Boeta Chamberlain continuing to serve the Tshwane outfit at flyhalf. Behind the halfbacks, Kurt-Lee Arendse and Sebastian de Klerk are retained at left and right-wing, respectively, with Harold Vorster returning to the matchday fold at inside centre. Vorster, who was sidelined by a broken nose has recovered from his nasal repair and will pair up with Canan Moodie who will line up at outside centre. Henry Immelman will marshal the troops from fullback.
The Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White said: “They are the one Welsh team that has beaten us. They did not only beat Cardiff last week but drew with Benetton also, so they are a difficult team that we take seriously, Every game we play as a franchise is important. It doesn’t matter whether we are playing at home or away. Whenever we wear our club jersey, there is an expectation to win. That doesn’t change whether it’s the second game on tour, we just got to make sure we play as much as we can when we run out onto the field.”
Teams
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Johnny Williams, 12 Eddie James, 11 Blair Murray, 10 Ioan Lloyd, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Josh Macleod (c), 6 Max Douglas, 5 Sam Lousi, 4 Alex Craig, 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ryan Elias, 1 Kemsley Mathias. Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Sam Wainwright, 19 Jac Price, 20 Dan Davis, 21 Efan Jones, 22 Sam Costelow, 23 Macs Page.
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Kuyenzeka Xaba, 5 Cobus Wiese, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Armand van der Merwe (cc), 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels. Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Celimpilo Gumede, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Barend Smit, 23 Stedman Gans.