Vermeulen, Specman, Gelant back for Bulls against Lions
Several stalwarts recovered from their injuries and will run out for the Bulls on Saturday against the Lions in the very important final game in the league phase of the SuperRugby tournament.
Duane Vermeulen, Rosko Specman and Warrick Gelant will return to the Bulls starting team to face the Lions in their final Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The backline duo picked up injuries during the Bulls tour to Australasia, while Vermeulen missed the New Zealand leg of the tour due to the World Cup rest protocols.
Coach Pote Human also had to replace injured lock Jason Jenkins and hooker, Schalk Brits, in a side that show six changes to the one that started against the Highlanders in Dunedin.
Gelant takes over from Divan Rossouw (bench) and Specman’s return is at the expense of Dylan Sage, with Johnny Kotze moving from wing to outside centre.
Andre Warner comes in at scrumhalf in place of Embrose Papier in a rotational move.
In the pack, Vermeulen’s return resulted in Marco van Staden moving back to six, with Ruan Steenkamp benched and Jannes Kirsten slotting in for Jenkins, with Eli Snyman coming onto the bench in his place.
Johan Grobbelaar will be back-up hooker to Jaco Visagie, who took over from Schalk Brits in Dunedin.
Bulls coach, Pote Human, said the return of injured players will freshen up the squad.
“We are at a late stage in the competition and anyone coming back into the fray does so with new energy and fresh legs and that is always good. The nice thing about this weekend is that we have our fate in our own hands and do not have to worry about results elsewhere. We can go out and apply our minds to the job at hand,” he explained.
For Handré Pollard, the return to Loftus Versfeld will add something to the team’s effort.
“We are going to need every Bulls supporter this weekend and I hope they come out in numbers to support us. We had some mixed performances at home this year, but the last couple of results show that we are getting into a good rhythm. It will be fantastic if we can qualify for the knock-outs for the first time in six years and do so in front of our own fans. Before that though, we will need an exceptional effort on Saturday,” the captain concluded.
The team to play against the Lions is: 15. Warrick Gelant, 14. Cornal Hendricks, 13. Johnny Kotze, 12. Burger Odendaal, 11. Rosko Specman, 10. Handré Pollard (c), 9. Andre Warner, 8. Duane Vermeulen, 7. Hanro Liebenberg, 6. Marco van Staden, 5. RG Snyman, 4. Jannes Kirsten, 3. Trevor Nyakane, 2. Jaco Visagie and 1. Lizo Gqoboka. Replacements: 16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Wiehahn Herbst, 19. Eli Snyman, 20. Ruan Steenkamp, 21. Ivan van Zyl, 22. Manie Libbok and 23. Divan Rossouw.
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