Van der Merwe in Blue Bulls debut

Tighthead prop Marcel van der Merwe will make his long awaited debut for the Blue Bulls in a friendly match against the Golden Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Van der Merwe joined the Blue Bulls last year, but has been recovering from a knee operation since.

The team to play the Lions are part of their preparations for the Super Rugby play-offs; also include a number of Junior Springboks  - who took South African to third place in the recent IRB Junior World Championship in France.

Francois Venter also makes a comeback after a groin operation and Handré Pollard gets a start at flyhalf.

Blue Bulls: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Jesse Kriel, 13 Ulrich Beyers, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Travis Ismaiel, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudi Paige, 8 Jean Cook, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Shaun Adendorff, 5 Dennis Visser, 4 Schalk van Heerden, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Dawie Steyn.

Replacements - from: Bongi Mbonambi, Hencus van Wyk, Christoff Gouws, Irne Herbst, Roelof Smit, Ruan Snyman, Tony Jantjies, Dries Swanepoel, Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

Date: Saturday, July 6

Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Kick-off: 16.30 (14.30 GMT)

Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge

Assistant referees: Jaco van Heerden, Sieg van Staden