In a massive show of their intent, the Vodacom Bulls have opted for a Springbok-heavy squad for Saturday’s opening Investec Champions Cup match at home against defending champions Bordeaux Begles (5.15pm kickoff).
Handré Pollard will be back in harness at No 10, while the loaded bench, with a 6-2 split, includes Johann Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Wilco Louw, Ruan Nortje and Elrigh Louw.
In all, there are 13 Boks – seven in the starting 15 and six on the bench.
The team has thus been completely overhauled from last week’s VURC selection, with eight new starters for ‘The Greatest Club Rugby Competition in the World’ this weekend.
Recently injured Marcell Coetzee also returns to captain the team.
Despite the stellar line-up, several Vodacom Bulls players remain on the injured list, namely Kurt-Lee Arendse (concussion), Cameron Hanekom (hamstring), Ruan Vermaak (achilles), Nama Xaba (longus tendon strain), Jan Serfontein (torn MCL) and Juan Else (concussion).
Having arrived in Pretoria with an array of stars, Bordeaux Begles clearly have ambitions of their own, knowing full well the difficulty of knocking over the Vodacom Bulls at their Loftus Versfeld fortress.
Ackermann made it clear last week that he would be looking for higher intensity, and accuracy, from his players in their final home fixture of the year.
VODACOM BULLS SQUAD
- Alulutho Tshakweni, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Mornay Smith, 4. Cobus Wiese, 5. JF van Heerden, 6. Marco van Staden, 7. Reinhardt Ludwig, 8. Marcell Coetzee, 9. Paul De Wet, 10. Handré Pollard, 11. Sebastian de Klerk, 12. Harold Vorster, 13. David Kriel, 14. Canan Moodie, 15. Willie le Roux, 16. Johann Grobbelaar, 17. Gerhard Steenekamp, 18. Wilco Louw, 19. Ruan Nortje, 20. Elrigh Louw, 21. Jeandre Rudolph, 22. Embrose Papier, 23. Stravino Jacobs.
