Henry Immelman returns to the starting XV whilst Abulele Ndabambi is set to make his senior Vodacom Bulls debut when the Tshwane outfit hosts the defending champions, the Toyota Cheetahs in Round 3 of the 2024 Carling Currie Cup at Loftus Versfeld.
The two sides will meet on Friday at 5pm and tickets start from R 50, available only from Ticketpro
Immelman slots in at right wing with Stravino Jacobs retained on the left whilst Devon Williams completes the back three. Second-round Player of the Match, Chris Barend Smit is paired up with Aphiwe Dyantyi once again at inside and outside centre, respectively.
In front of the back line will be the halfback pairing of Bernard van der Linde at scrumhalf and Chris Smith - swaps places with Jaco van der Walt who moves to the impact squad - slots in at flyhalf.
Up ahead, head coach Phiwe Nomlomo has made minor rotational changes to his side with Dylan ‘Bull’ Smith lining up alongside Joe van Zyl and Francois Klopper at front row. Smith returns to the starting line-up after Jan-Hendrik Wessels’ call-up to the Springboks. Behind the three, Sintu Manjezi has a new lock partner in Jannes Kirsten who shifts roles in the absence of Cobus Wiese. Skipper, Nizaam ‘Nemo’ Carr partners up with Merwe Olivier at openside and blindside respectively. Celimpilo ‘Mpilo’ Gumede assumes the eighthman duties.
Juann Else, Alulutho Tshakweni, Khutha Mchunu, Nama Xaba, Zak Burger, Van der Walt, Cornal Hendricks and debut hopeful, Ndabambi all make up the 5-3 split impact squad.
Nomlomo says his side has had a good start and the focus is on maintaining consistency.
“Cobus is not available for us this week on family grounds and Boeta (Chamberlain) misses out because he was away the weekend before and the short turnaround just did not allow us to integrate him back.“It has been a good start for us and ours is to keep the consistency going forward. We need to keep our focus on the now and not get carried away, so we are all systems go for tomorrow against the Cheetahs and then move on from there.
“They have been on a good run against us for a while now but tomorrow is not about revenge or anything but an opportunity for us to execute what we have been working on. Yes, we take learnings from the past and the game in itself is very important, considering they are one of the unbeaten sides in the competition so we must look to be on top of our game,” Nomlomo concluded.
Vodacom Bulls starting XV: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Henry Immelman, 13 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 12 Chris Barend Smit, 11 Stravino Jacobs; 10 Chris Smith, 9 Bernard van der Linde; 8 Celimpilo Gumede, 7 Merwe Olivier, 6 Nizaam Carr (capt); 5 Jannes Kirsten, 4 Sintu Manjezi; 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Joe van Zyl, 1 Dylan Smith. Replacements: 16 Juann Else, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Khutha Mchunu, 19 Abulele Ndabambi, 20 Nama Xaba, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Cornal Hendricks.
Toyota Cheetahs starting XV: 15 Litha Nkula, 14 Cohen Jasper, 13 Munier Hartzenberg, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Prince Nkabinde; 10 Ethan Wentzel, 9 Marko Jansen van Vuren; 8 Oupa Mohoje, 7 Aidon Davis, 6 Jeandrè Rudolph; 5 Victor Sekekete (capt), 4 Carl Wegner; 3 Hencus van Wyk, 2 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 1 Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: 16 Vernon Paulo, 17 Cameron Dawson, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Pieter Jansen van Vuuren, 20 Daniel Maartens, 21 Neels Volschenk, 22 Jandrè Nel, 23 Reinhardt Fortuin.
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