Olivier back for the Bulls

Editor

The Bulls have named Deon Stegmann, Jürgen Visser and Wynand Olivier in their starting XV that will face the Hurricanes.

The Bulls have named Wynand Olivier, Deon Stegmann and Jürgen Visser in their starting line-up that will face the Hurricanes at Loftus on Saturday.

Stegmann recovered from bruised ribs and will again wear the number six jersey, with Dewald Potgieter moving to the other side of the scrum where he replaces Arno Botha.

Botha moves to the bench, where he will find two new faces. Frik Kirsten is back from his elbow strain and replaces Hencus van Wyk and Grant Hattingh's broken thumb has healed. He will take Wilhelm Steenkamp's place on the bench.

Kirsten only missed last weekend's action, but Hattingh last played for the Bulls at the Reds.

Olivier has recovered from a knee injury sustained against the Crusaders during the Australasian tour and will replace Jan Serfontein, who has a niggle and will be rested.

Visser was a late withdrawal from the Bulls side to beat the Waratahs last weekend and was replaced by Ulrich Beyers. He has now being declared fit and will start at full-back in place of Beyers.

Frans Ludeke was looking for a solid performance ahead of the team's bye next week.

“We are in control of our own destiny at this stage and that is exactly where we want to be. This means that we are doing some things right, but we all realise that we are also not accurate enough in other phases,” he said.

Ludeke was happy with the work done this week in the set-pieces and acknowledge this as an area where they traditionally attacked the Hurricanes.

“They are a very dangerous side when there is broken field and open play, so we need to make sure we dominate territory and possession and win the gain line battle,” he added.

Bulls captain Pierre Spies said that their defence will hold the key.

“We will have to be strong in defence. We leaked some unnecessary tries last weekend and we are not happy about that. The Hurricanes are known for their fantastic attack, so we need a very disciplined and determined approach on defence,” he said.

Bulls: 15 Jürgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Mornè Steyn, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Pierre Spies (c), 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Juandrè Kruger, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Willie Wepener, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Grant Hattingh, 19 Arno Botha, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Louis Fouchè, 22 Lionel Mapoe.

Date: Saturday, May 4
Kick-off: 19:10 local (18:10 BST, 17:10 GMT)
Venue: Loftus Versfeld
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Attie Buitendag (South Africa)
Television match official: Johan Greeff (South Africa)