Potgieter starts, Serfontein on bench

Jacques Potgieter will start for the Bulls against the Crusaders at Loftus on Saturday.

Potgieter replaces Jannes Kirsten at blindside flank, with the latter moving to the bench. Hanro Liebenberg has pulled up with a hamstring strain and is replaced in the starting XV by Renaldo Bothma.

Centre Jan Serfontein, who was rested last week, is also named among the replacements.

Bulls coach Nollis Marais said his side believed they could beat the Crusaders, who have won all nine of their matches this season.

'Rugby is not only played on the field, but in the minds of teams as well. We lacked some belief when results did not reflect our effort earlier in the season, but that is not an issue any more. The last two wins confirmed that we can indeed compete against anyone.

'I have always said that the team is better than the results showed and the last two wins started to show that. We have a massive hurdle to overcome on Saturday though, as the Crusaders have been setting a number of benchmarks to other teams this year. They remain a classy side and despite not having Sam Whitelock and Kieran Read available for this match, remain one of the top teams in the competition.'

Bulls – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Tian Schoeman, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Renaldo Bothma, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Nick de Jager, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Adriaan Strauss (c), 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Jannes Kirsten, 21 Rudy Paige, 22 Francois Brummer, 23 Jan Serfontein.

Super Rugby teams (Round 11)

Photo: Shaun Roy/Gallo Images

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