Local sportSport

Pote picks ten Springboks for warm-up match against Stormers

The seriousness with which the Bulls are approaching Sunday's warm-up match against the Stormers in Cape Town is proved by the nine Springboks in the starting line-up and one on the bench in coach Pote Human’s selected team.

New recruits Schalk Brits and Duane Vermeulen will start for the Bulls in Cape Town on Sunday when they take on the Stormers in a Super Rugby friendly, dubbed as #SuperHeroSunday.

The duo, both former Stormers players, will also make a return to the South African franchise landscape following club stints abroad.

Vermeulen will start at no8 alongside Jannes Kirsten and Paul Schoeman, who will also be involved with the Bulls for the first time since joining from the Cheetahs.

Bulls coach Pote Human named nine Springboks in his starting team, while another, Embrose Papier will finish the match to be played in Cape Town Stadium from the bench.

Johnny Kotze, who re-joined the squad following a loan spell with Ospreys in Wales, will also play off the bench in a squad with lot of familiar faces.

Lood de Jager will lead the side for the first time since appointed captain for the season.

https://www.facebook.com/BullsOfficial/videos/373638890115759/

Human feels the match will be an important first step for his side.

“There are new faces in the team, but the likes of Schalk and Duane are so experienced that they slotted in from the start. It will be a matter of getting the combinations going, have them tested against quality opposition like the Stormers and get an idea of where we are. I am pleased with the experience and quality in the group, but you still need some matches together to get going and the weekend’s match in Cape Town will do exactly that,” the coach said.

The first ever #SuperHeroSunday double-header on 3 February at Cape Town Stadium, will feature all four Super Rugby franchise teams on the same day at one venue.

South Africa’s top players wearing their new jerseys inspired by Marvel’s Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther and Captain America will run out at Cape Town Stadium on #SuperHeroSunday, for the first public appearance of the Marvel makeover of SA’s Super Rugby teams.

The Lions will be dressed in the familiar webbed suit of Spider-Man; the Sharks will adopt the Black Panther look; the Stormers will be looking to hammer their opponents in the colours of Thor; and the Bulls will shield all attacks thrown their way as Captain America.

The jerseys will be exclusively worn in most South African derbies. The teams will wear their usual jerseys for matches against international opposition.

The match starts at 16:15.

The starting team is: Warrick Gelant, Jade Stighling, Jesse Kriel, Burger Odendaal, Duncan Matthews, Handré Pollard, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen, Jannes Kirsten, Paul Schoeman, Lood de Jager (c), Eli Snyman, Trevor Nyakane, Schalk Brits, Lizo Gqoboka.

Finishers: Corniel Els, Simphiwe Matanzina, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Ruan Nortje, Ruan Steenkamp, Thembelani Bholi, Embrose Papier, Manie Libbok, Dylan Sage, Johnny Kotze, Divan Rossouw.

 

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:

Rekord East

Rekord North

Rekord Centurion

Rekord Moot

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.

 

At Caxton, every story is written by humans. We use AI only to perform quality checks - never to generate the news. Happy reading!

Support local journalism

Add The Citizen as a preferred source to see more from Rekord in Google News and Top Stories.

Koos Venter

Koos Venter is an experienced journalist who started his career 35 years ago, before the days of cellphones, modern computer systems, the internet and digital cameras, as a correspondent for Nexus, the former national magazine of the Department of Correctional Services. He has since worked for various other publications in all aspects of news coverage, as a columnist and in the production side of newspapers and online publications. Since 2007 he has specialized as a sports writer, while he is also regularly used as an analyst and commentator by several radio stations.
Back to top button