Wannenburg makes Bulls history

Bulls' loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg will become the most capped Bulls player in the history of Super Rugby when he runs onto the field against the Force in Perth on Friday.

Bulls' loose forward Pedrie Wannenburg will become the most capped Bulls player in the history of Super Rugby when he runs onto the field against the Force in Perth on Friday.

The immensely talented Wannenburg, who was selected as flanker alongside Wikus van Heerden for the game against the Force, will surpass Victor Matfield's record of 77 matches for the franchise.

Wannenburg made his debut for the Bulls in 2002 against the Brumbies and later that same year he played in his first Test for South Africa against the French.

Coach Frans Ludeke picked the same starting XV as the one that came so close to beat the Blues in Auckland for their last tour match against the Force but on the bench the loosehead prop Jaco Engels comes in for Hilton Lobberts.

Engels flew over to Australia on the weekend as a replacement for Dewald Potgieter and with him among the reserves the Bulls can send on a whole new front row in the second half if they desire to do that.

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana; 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Fourie du Preez (c), 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Wikus van Heerden, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Jaco Engels, 19 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Morné Steyn, 22 Deon Stegmann.

Date: Friday, 4 April
Venue: Subiaco Oval, Perth
Kick-off: 19:45 (11:45 GMT)
Match officials: tbc