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Jake White radically overhauls his Bulls side for European bow
By Rugby365
Bulls director of rugby Jake White has revealed a new-look team for their Champions Cup opener against Lyon in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Bulls’ boss has changed his entire starting XV that did duty against Cardiff in the United Rugby Championship last weekend with a host of stars not included in the matchday squad.
For the clash against Lyon, Wandisile Simelane gets the No.15 jersey and he will form a back three with Sibongile Novuka and Stravino Jacobs.
Stedman Gans and Marco Jansen van Vuren will form a midfield pairing with veteran playmaker Morne Steyn coming in at No.10. Bernard van der Linde will be Steyn’s halfback partner.
In the pack, the back row will consist of Muller Uys, WJ Steenkamp and Nizaam Carr. Jacques du Plessis makes a return and he will form a second-row combination with Reinhardt Ludwig.
Jacques van Rooyen, Bismarck du Plessis and Dylan Smith are in the front row.
On the bench, Lizo Gqoboka, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Sebastian Lombard, Janko Swanepoel and Phumzile Maqondwana will provide cover for the forwards and Keegan Johannes, Chris Smit and Juan Mostert will provide cover for the backs.
“I said when this month started that we are going to be very clever about how we manage the players,” said White.
“It’s just turned out that a couple of Springboks came back and needed some time off
“Some guys have worked really hard to get a game and I just felt it is a home game and it is a good opportunity for some boys who have pushed really hard to get a start.
“There are three Springboks, five or six guys who won a Currie Cup Final, two guys played in a Super Rugby Final three times, so there is enough experience there.”
Bulls: 15 Wandisile Simelane, 14 Sibongile Novuka, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Morne Steyn (captain), 9 Bernard van der Linde, 8 Muller Uys, 7 WJ Steenkamp, 6 Nizaam Carr, 5 Reinhardt Ludwig, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Dylan Smith.
Replacements: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Sebastian Lombard, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Phumzile Maqondwana, 21 Keegan Johannes, 22 Chris Smit, 23 Juan Mostert.
Date: Saturday, December 10
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 19.30 (18.30 France time; 17.30 GMT)
Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Sara Cox (England), Karl Dickson (England)
TMO: Ian Tempest (England)
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Latest Comments
That's really stupidly pedantic. Let's say the gods had smiled on us, and we were playing Ireland in Belfast on this trip. Then you'd be happy to accept it as a tour of the UK. But they're not going to Australia, or Peru, or the Philippines, they're going to the UK. If they had a match in Paris it would be fair to call it the "end-of-year European tour". I think your issue has less to do with the definition of the United Kingdom, and is more about what is meant by the word "tour". By your definition of the word, a road trip starting in Marseilles, tootling through the Massif Central and cruising down to pop in at La Rochelle, then heading north to Cherbourg, moving along the coast to imagine what it was like on the beach at Dunkirk, cutting east to Strasbourg and ending in Lyon cannot be called a "tour of France" because there's no visit to St. Tropez, or the Louvre, or Martinique in the Caribbean.
Go to commentsJust thought for a moment you might have gathered some commonsense from a southerner or a NZer and shut up. But no, idiots aren't smart enough to realise they are idiots.
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