Bulls axe trio

Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar made three changes to his backline to play Griquas in a Currie Cup fixture Kimberley on Saturday.

Jürgen Visser, Ulrich Beyers and Rudi Paige will all earn starts at Park, with only the scrumhalf starting a match for the first time this season.

They replace Clayton Blommetjies, Johann Sadie and Ruan Snyman respectively.

The first two are "rested" due to niggles.

However, Snyman will play off the bench against the team he made his Currie Cup debut against.

"We are certainly up against it," Pienaar said of his bottom-placed team.

"To prop up the log at this stage of the competition is not great and does not reflect the hard work we have put in.

"The reality is that we are playing against ourselves as well at the moment and are making too many errors at crucial times and aspects of the game.

"We have to work harder and play smarter and that is what we intend to do on the weekend."

Blue Bulls: 15 Jürgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Ulrich Beyers, 12 Francois Venter, 11 JJ Engelbrecht, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Rudi Paige, 8 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 7 CJ Stander, 6 Warwick Tecklenburg, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Dawie Steyn.

Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Cornell Hess, 19 Jean Cook, 20 Ruan Snyman, 21 Lionel Cronjé, 22 Jan Serfontein.

Date: Saturday, September 15

Venue: GWK Park, Kimberley

Kick-off: 15.00 (13.00 GMT)

Referee: Jaco Peyper

Assistant referees: Lesego Legoete, François de Bruin

TMO: JC Fortuin