Vodacom Bulls director of rugby Jake White has opted for continuity and named an unchanged match-day 23 to face unbeaten Leinster in Pretoria on Saturday.
Springbok lock Ruan Nortje continues in his role as captain of a Bulls team that punished outgunned Zebre to claimed a vital bonus-point victory in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park last week.
Johan Goosen retains the No 10 jersey after he scored 23 points in a 78-12 demolition of the Italians to book the Bulls’ place in the top eight of the URC, and the playmaker will again be central to this week’s blockbuster clash against league-leaders Leinster at Loftus Versfeld.
His display helped unleash fellow Boks Canan Moodie and Embrose Papier – the scrumhalf crossing for two tries against Zebre while winger Moodie added three more as the Bulls logged 11 tries on the day – and all three will be key to The Herd’s chances of dethroning the Irish giants on the Highveld.
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Despite having their first-choice players – and coaches Leo Cullen, Stuart Lancaster and others – back in Dublin preparing for next week’s Champions Cup semi-final against Toulouse, Leinster remain a formidable challenge, warns Bulls blindside flanker Cyle Brink.
The tourists absorbed two yellow cards and then scored 18 unanswered points in the final quarter to negate a 26-14 half-time deficit and clinch a thriller 39-36 against the Lions in round 17.
“The Lions looked like they had that game in the bag, and we were sitting and watching and supporting. The game can turn, and compounding penalties can really hurt you. That also turned in the second half, so we need to make sure we keep our penalty count down and stay in control of the game – because they won’t go away for the 80 minutes,” Brink said.
“They are similar to the Crusaders in the way that they stick to their systems, and they are very good at their basics. They also manipulate other teams very well by going for the space that they try to get. But I definitely think that if we front up physically and take it to them, we can definitely put them under a lot of pressure.
“After the tough run of games we’ve had, we don’t take anything for granted and go out to win – it doesn’t matter who is in front of us. If we stick to that mindset, we won’t get into that false sense of security.”
Bulls – 15 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 David Kriel, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (c), 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Subs: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 WJ Steenkamp, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
Photo: @BlueBullsRugby/Twitter