Loose forward, Celimpilo ‘Mpilo’ Gumede has been handed his debut for the Vodacom Bulls this weekend when they visit Cardiff Rugby at Arms Park in Wales. Gumede, a former SA Schools and Junior Bok will start at eight, bringing his explosive game to the pack that is led by an unchanged front row with Nizaam Carr captaining the side in their fourth round 2023/24 Vodacom United Rugby Championship outing.
Carr will start at blindside flank whilst Cyle Brink will be on the openside with the duo of Reinhardt Ludwig and Janko Swanepoel completing the second row as the lock pairing. Embrose Papier (scrumhalf) and Chris Smith (flyhalf) will direct traffic flow at halfback with an unchanged backline behind them. Sergeal Petersen who had an impressive debut will be on the left wing whilst his energetic counterpart Sebastian de Klerk will be on the right of the park. David Kriel will be hoping to add more tries to his tally from inside centre with Stedman Gans on his outside with Devon Williams at fullback.
Director of Rugby, Jake White has gone with a 6-2 bench split which will see Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Mornay Smith, Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw and Cameron Hanekom sit on standby for forward pack duty with Keagan Johannes and Johan Goosen the optional backline picks on the waiting list for duty.
Vodacom Bulls: 1. Simphiwe Matanzima, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Reinhardt Ludwig, 5. Janko Swanepoel, 6. Nizaam Carr (c), 7. Cyle Brink, 8. Mpilo Gumede, 9. Embrose Papier, 10. Chris Smith, 11. Sergeal Petersen, 12. David Kriel, 13. Stedman Gans, 14. Sebastian de Klerk, 15. Devon Williams. Replacements: 16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Gerhard Steenekamp, 18. Mornay Smith, 19. Ruan Nortje, 20. Elrigh Louw, 21. Keagan Johannes, 22. Johan Goosen, 24. Cameron Hanekom.
