The Vodacom Bulls have made sweeping changes for Saturday’s away Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Ulster.
Among the most significant is a start for Handre Pollard, now back in blue after several seasons in the UK. In his previous stint in Pretoria, he played over 70 matches for the Vodacom Bulls, attaining hero status in the capital.
In all, there are 11 changes - seven in the starting 15 and four on the bench - from last week’s squad that beat champions Leinster in Pretoria. Several are forced by injuries, chiefly to Marcell Coetzee and JF van Heerden.
The seven changes to the line-up are Wilco Louw (for Mornay Smith), Cobus Wiese (for JF van Heerden), Marco Staden (for Marcell Coetzee), Jeandre Rudolph (for JJ Theron), Zak Burger (for Embrose Papier), Handre Pollard (for Keagan Johannes) and Canan Moodie (for David Kriel).
Similarly, the bench has been shaken up: Jan-Hendrik Wessels (for Alulutho Tshakweni), Reinhardt Ludwig (for Sintu Manjezi), Paul de Wet (for Zak Burger, moved to start) and David Kriel (for Stedman Gans).
In all, there are eight Springboks in the starting line-up.
1. Gerhard Steenekamp