Van Zyl gets Bulls No 9 jersey

Piet van Zyl will start at scrumhalf for the Vodacom Bulls' crucial clash with the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday.

Van Zyl will earn his third Super Rugby start of the season in place of the injured Rudy Paige in one of two changes to the side that saw off the Sharks in Durban.

The other change, also among the backs, sees Springbok Jan Serforntein restored to inside centre after recovering from a hip flexor injury that has kept him sidelined for the past four weeks.

The only other change to the match-day squad sees Akona Ndungane make his first appearance of the season on the substitutes bench.

Frans Ludeke's side currently hold a slim two-point advantage over their hosts this weekend, and will be looking to avenge the opening round defeat suffered against the same opponents at Loftus.

Bulls – 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Pierre Spies (c), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Dean Greyling.
Subs: 16 Callie Visagie, 17 Morné Mellett, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Lappies Labuschagne, 21 Akona Ndungane, 22 Tian Schoeman, 23 Jurgen Visser.

Super Rugby teams (Round 11)

Photo: Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images