
Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White has revealed his team to face Benetton in Friday’s United Rugby Championship Round clash in Treviso.
In the pack, Wilco Louw will have new front row teammates in the form of Johan Grobbelaar and Alulutho Tshakweni.
Louw and Grobbelaar were recently added to South Africa’s end-of-year tour squad after Jan-Hendrik Wessels was ruled out with an ankle injury.
Cobus Wiese will shift to the No 4 lock with JF van Heerden getting the nod at No 5.
In the back row, Marcell Coetzee comes in for Nama Xaba, while Elrigh Louw takes over the No 8 jersey from Cameron Hanekom, who is on the bench.
Embrose Papier will get the No 9 jersey this week and in the midfield, David Kriel returns to the No 12 spot.
The other changes are in the back three with Devon Williams and Aphiwe Dyantyi coming in for Henry Immelman and Sebastian de Klerk.
White’s chargers have amassed six points on their tour thus far and will be looking for more points before the tournament break for the November tours.
Benetton head coach Marco Bortolami said: "The lineup was chosen to respond to the qualities of the Bulls but also to play our own game. It will be very important to match their physicality at the start.
"They are a team that scores 60% of their points in the first 30 minutes of every match, so it will be crucial to withstand the initial impact. Then, when spaces open up, we need to have the right players ready, even in the second half.
"The balance we've chosen aims in this direction, and we also wanted to build on the continuity of the last two victories against the Sharks and Dragons. I think the game will be decided by the basics, simple and it will be very similar to the one against Leinster. We definitely need to make some improvements."

Benetton starting XV: 15 Rhyno Smith, 14 Paolo Odogwu, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Matt Gallagher; 10 Tomas Albornoz, 9 Alessandro Garbisi; 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Michele Lamaro (capt), 6 Alessandro Izekor; 5 Federico Ruzza, 4 Niccolò Cannone; 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Siua Maile, 1 Mirco Spagnolo. Replacements: 16 Bautista Bernasconi, 17 Thomas Gallo, 18 Enzo Avaca, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Sebastian Negri, 21 Manuel Zuliani, 22 Andy Uren, 23 Jacob Umaga.
Vodacom Bulls starting XV: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 David Kriel, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Boeta Chamberlain, 9 Embrose Papier; 8 Elrigh Louw (capt), 7 Reinhardt Ludwig, 6 Marcell Coetzee; 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Cobus Wiese; 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Alulutho Tshakweni. Replacements: 16 Akker van der Merwe, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Vermaak, 20 Cameron Hanekom, 21 Keegan Johannes, 22 Stedman Gans, 23 Sebastian de Klerk.
Benetton v Vodacom Bulls
Stadio Monigo, Treviso – KO 7.35pm IRE & UK/8.35pm ITA & SA
Referee: Eoghan Cross (IRFU, 22nd league game)
AR 1: Andrea Piardi (FIR) AR 2: Franco Rosella (FIR)
TMO: Brian MacNeice (IRFU)
Live on: Sky Italia, Premier Sports, SuperSport, Flo Rugby & URC.tv
Comments