Marco van Staden slots in at openside flanker, with Ruan Nortje back to lead the Vodacom Bulls against the Glasgow Warriors in Pretoria on Saturday.
Van Staden, who has been sidelined with a knee injury since late March, replaces Nizaam Carr in the starting XV as one of three changes to the run-on team thrashed Ospreys at Loftus Versfeld in the Vodacom URC two weeks ago.
Nortje returns to pack down alongside Ruan Vermaak in the second row while veteran hooker Akker van der Merwe trades places with Johan Grobbelaar.
“We’ve done really well without them [Nortje and Van Staden], to be fair, but they’re two really good stalwarts of our team,” director of rugby Jake White said.
“One is a World Cup winner, one is the captain… We lost our captain for a while, especially now that Marcell [Coetzee] is out for a while.
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“Our lineout, not that it was poor but it’s so much better when Ruan’s involved because of his experience. So tomorrow against Glasgow, they’ve got a really good lineout, and to have him back and to have Marco’s breakdown ability available too – one thing we know about Glasgow is they play quickly.
“Breakdowns are important and having a guy like Marco who is really good at the breakdown is a massive boost for us.”
Carr, Grobbelaar and Reinhardt Ludwig are set to provide an impact off the bench with Francois Klopper, as the Bulls resume their race to the final eight in the URC.
With three rounds of the regular season remaining, the Bulls are in fourth place on the overall log with 51 points, behind leaders Glasgow (58).
Bulls – 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 David Kriel, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje (c), 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.
Subs: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Reinhardt Ludwig, 20 Nizaam Carr, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Devon Williams.
Photo: Seb Daly/Gallo Images
