Bulls send big guns to Europe

TEAM NEWS: The Bulls named their squad that will travel to Parma, Italy, where they will take on Zebre in a United Rugby Championship clash on Friday.

The squad leaves South Africa on Monday and is expected to arrive in Italy on Tuesday, where they will continue their preparations for their first overseas match since October.

The Bulls will head into the rescheduled Round 10 match without the services of experienced Springbok flyhalf Morné Steyn.

He will be serving the first of his three-match ban, following a red card in the Bulls' previous fixture against the Sharks.

However, the Pretoria outfit will still field a powerful team, loaded with star power.

The Bulls, with just three wins in nine starts, come off a 22-29 loss to the Sharks and will be keen to start the slow slog up the standings.

Currently in 12th place overall, they also don't want to lose any further ground on the pace-setting Stormers (23 points from nine matches) and Sharks (21 from nine) in the South African conference.

Bulls squad

FORWARDS: Lizo Gqoboka, Gerhard Steenekamp, Simphiwe Matanzima, Jacques van Rooyen, Robert Hunt, Bismarck du Plessis, Johan Grobbelaar, Joe van Zyl, Walt Steenkamp, Ruan Nortje, Janko Swanepoel, Marcell Coetzee, Arno Botha, Elrigh Louw, WJ Steenkamp, Reinhardt Ludwig.

BACKS: Embrose Papier, Keagan Johannes, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Chris Smith, Juan Mostert, Harold Vorster, Lionel Mapoe, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Madosh Tambwe, Canan Moodie, Kurt-Lee Arendse.