Although the Bulls have already qualified for a home game in the quarter-finals of the United Rugby Championship (URC), they still need to secure a bonus point victory against the Dragons of Wales on Saturday afternoon to ensure they finish second on the log, which will ensure a further home game in the semi-final if they qualify for it.

White made three changes and a few positional shifts to his starting line-up from the team that faced Cardiff last week. On the flank, highly rated fetcher Nama Xaba gets a chance, while Sergeal Petersen is promoted to the starting line-up on the wing.  Keagan Johannes is also part of the starting team, after serving at fly half from the bench last week.

Dawid Kriel moves to inside centre and Canaan Moodie from the wing to outside centre.

While Johan Goosen is out again with a knee injury and Embrose Papier is also not yet ready to play again after his injury, White has also rested his star tighthead prop, Wilco Louw, for this match.

Although the brilliant young scrumhalf, Bernard van der Linde, has already signed a contract with Johan van Graan’s Bath in England, he will probably get a chance to wear the Bulls jersey for the last time at Loftus on Saturday as a farewell gift. He has been selected as a scrumhalf replacement on the bench. He will start at his new club in Somerset in the south-west of England on July 1.

– Saturday’s game will also have an emotional twist after the sudden death of Cornal Hendriks, who was part of the Bulls family between 2019 and 2024 and was therefore a great friend to most of the men in the Bulls team.

* As the permutations look like on Saturday morning, the day of the last league action of the current URC tournament, the Bulls’ quarter-final opponent could still be any of three teams – Edinburgh (the most likely scenario), Munster or Scarlets.

These permutations are relevant if one reasons from the scenario that the Bulls will definitely finish second on the final log. The chances of the Bulls losing to the Dragons at Loftus Versfeld and the Glasgow Warriors beating Leinster in Dublin, and thus swapping places on the log, are extremely slim.

After Friday night’s matches, during which clubs such as Munster and Edinburgh secured their places among the quarter-final candidates, Welsh club Scarlets are the only role player who can still make a difference to the final standings on the log among the top eight.

However, the result of the match between Scarlets and the Sharks, which kicks off at 19:30 on Saturday evening in Durban, will also be important in determining the Bulls’ opponents in the quarter-finals.

As things stand after Friday night’s games, Scarlets will need at least two log points to move past Edinburgh from eighth to seventh on the log. That means they need to score at least four tries and lose by less than seven points in Durban.

If this happens, the Bulls will play Scarlets in the quarter-finals.

However, the Welsh club could still finish sixth. All they need to do to ensure this scenario, is beat the Sharks with or without a bonus point for four tries. This will probably be their best-case scenario, as they will then play in the quarter-finals in Europe against the defending champions, Glasgow Warriors.  The latter is currently struggling badly and have to play Leinster in an away game – the last of the league phase of the tournament – on Saturday night and they have to win to retain their third place on the log.

In the event of this scenario where Scarlets finish sixth, Munster would drop to seventh place and would have to fly to South Africa to face the Bulls in the quarter-finals.

If Scarlets lose to the Sharks and earn one or no bonus points, the Bulls will face Edinburgh in the quarter-finals.

The game between the Bulls and the Dragons will kick off at 15:00.

BULLS vs DRAGONS RFC STARTING XV: 1. Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Mornay Smith, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. JF van Heerden, 6. Nama Xaba, 7. Ruan Nortje (c), 8. Cameron Hanekom, 9. Zak Burger, 10. Keagan Johannes, 11. Sergeal Petersen, 12. David Kriel, 13. Canan Moodie, 14. Sebastian de Klerk, 15. Willie le Roux

REPLACEMENTS: 16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Francois Klopper, 19. Jannes Kirsten, 20. Marcell Coetzee, 21. Bernard van der Linde, 22. Stedman Gans, 23. Devon Williams

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