Jesse Kriel back at 13 for Bulls

David Skippers

Bulls head coach Pote Human has made two alterations to his starting XV for Saturday’s Super Rugby quarter-final with the Hurricanes in Wellington. 

In the backline, Springbok centre Jesse Kriel returns to the run-on side – after a lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury – and will wear the number 13 jersey in place of Johnny Kotze, who shifts to inside centre where he replaces Burger Odendaal, who injured his collarbone in last weekend’s win over the Lions in Pretoria.

In the forwards, Springbok lock Jason Jenkins comes into the starting line-up to replace Jannes Kirsten, who drops down to the replacements bench where he takes over from Eli Snyman.

Human is excited by Kriel’s and Jenkins’ return to action.

“Jesse’s experience and ability speaks for itself and to have him back for this match is good news for us,” he said.

“Jason has also been playing really well lately and he forms a very competitive combination with RG, so it is a plus having that.”

Bulls: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Johnny Kotze, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Handré Pollard (c), 9 Andre Warner, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Lizo Gqoboka
Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Ruan Steenkamp, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Divan Rossouw

Date: Saturday, June 22
Venue: Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 19:45 local (08:35 BST, 07:35 GMT)
Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand), Brendon Pickerill (New Zealand)
TMO: Glenn Newman (New Zealand)