Cornal Hendricks will captain a strong Blue Bulls team in their opening match of the side’s Carling Currie Cup defence when they take on the Pumas at the Mbombela Stadium on Friday night.

Blue Bulls’ Carling Currie Cup head coach, Gert Smal, has selected a strong starting XV and an exciting group of replacements on the bench.

Smal has a good mix of experience and young emerging players in his team. It’s clear that many of the men will probably not be part of the Currie Cup campaign in the end, but urgently need match fitness for when the Bulls also continue their campaign in the United Rugby Championship

“We have put in some good, hard work over the past few weeks in preparation for the Carling Currie Cup, which promises to be a tough competition yet again this season. We are looking forward to seeing all of that work come together this weekend,” said Smal.

Smal believes that the Pumas, particularly on their own turf in Mbombela, have always proven to be a tough opposition.

“We have no doubts that our match on Friday will be another hard-fought battle to kick-off the tournament,” he concluded.

The match will kick off at 19:00. 

The Blue Bulls team to take on Pumas is:  15. Kurt-Lee Arendse , 14. Madosh Tambwe, 13. David Kriel, 12. Cornal Hendricks (Capt), 11. Richard Kriel, 10. Chris Smith, 9. Embrose Papier, 8. Arno Botha, 7. Elrigh Louw, 6. Jaco Labuschagne, 5. Ruan Nortje, 4. Walt Steenkamp, 3. Jacques van Rooyen, 2. Johan Grobbelaar and 1.  Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements (16-23): Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Lizo Gqoboka, Robert Hunt, Sintu Manjezi, WJ Steenkamp, Zak Burger, Juan Mostert, Stedman Gans.

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