Bulls add muscle for Newlands trip

Blue Bulls coach Frans Ludeke wasted no time to name fit-again flank Jacques du Plessis in his starting line-up to face Western Province at Newlands on Saturday.

This round two match in the Currie Cup Premier Division will see two new faces in the Blue Bulls starting pack that lost their season opener against the Golden Lions in Johannesburg last weekend.

Du Plessis comes in at flank, after recovering from a broken jaw sustained in a pre-season match, with Jono Ross moving to No.8 and replacing Jacques Engelbrecht, who moves to the bench with Wiaan Liebenberg dropping out of the match 22.

In the front row Marcel van der Merwe will start at loosehead in place of injured Dean Greyling, who is suffering from a calf strain.

Van der Merwe's place on the bench will be taken by Hencus van Wyk.

Blue Bulls captain Deon Stegmann was pleased to see Du Plessis back in the fray.

"He is a great line-out option for us and has shown himself to be a devastating ball-carrier, so he could not have returned to the side at a more appropriate time," Stegmann said.

"We will have to show who we are in this match and it is good to have Jacques’ size and speed to help us in this regard."

Blue Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann (captain), 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.

Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel.

Date: Saturday, August 16

Venue: Newlands, Cape Town

Kick-off: 14.00 (12.00 GMT)

Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge

Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Quinton Immelman

TMO: Jason Jaftha