Marutlulle’s Under-21s looking to build consistency

Edgar Marutlulle’s Vodacom Bulls Under-21 side is looking to build consistency in the second round of the 2025 SA Rugby Under-21 Cup. The young herd – through a hard-fought victory – secured full points in the opening round of the competition and will be looking to do the same this weekend against Western Province on home soil.

The juniors from the capital will kick off against South rivals at midday, a curtain-raiser for the seniors, who will be hosting Cardiff at 4pm. Tickets available for as little as R50 from TicketPro and moms enter for FREE!

Marutlulle has made a few tweaks to his side, the first being a single change to the forwards pack that did duty in the opening round. Nokutenda Mapungwana comes into the loose forward role, which sees Cephas van Biljon shifting to six as Lukas Meyer moves to the six-two split impact squad.

At the back, flyhalf Liam Koen has a new co-marshall in Steven Nel, who is drafted into the starting XV at scrumhalf. At centre, Kobus Janse van Rensburg comes in to pair up with Pieter van der Merwe, whilst there is also a new face at right wing where Alfondso Isaacs will get the opportunity to put his opposing number under pressure. This is Isaacs’ first run since sustaining injury in April during a warm-up match against the Junior Springboks.

The young Vodacom Bulls side has also been given a timely boost with Shaun Schürmann’s red card from Round 1 being overturned, thus making him available to form part of this week’s 6-2 bench. Alongside Schürmann on the standby squad are Mbasa Maqubela, Rouwan Mitchell, Caleb Abrahams, Roelof Daniel ‘RD’ Engelbrecht, Abri van der Westhuysen and co-captain Lukas Meyer. 19-year-old Roelof Adam Jacobus ‘RJ’ Barnard is also poised to make his club debut which would make him the third Under-19 to feature in this current campaign of the cup competition.

Vodacom Bulls Under-21 starting XV: 15 Jaydon Bantom, 14 Alfondso Isaacs, 13 Kobus Janse van Rensburg, 12 Pieter van der Merwe, 11 Thandolwami ‘Hopewell’ Ntshangase; 10 Liam Koen, 9 Steven Nel; 8 Marco Ferreira, 7 Nokutenda Mapungwana, 6 Cephas van Biljon; 5 Heinrich Theron, 4 Johnathan Eloff; 3 Casper Badenhorst, 2 Juan Smal (capt), 1 Lithemba Mfupi. Replacements: 16 Shaun Schürmann, 17 Mbasa Maqubela, 18 Rouwan Mitchell, 19 Lukas Meyer, 20 Roelof Adam Jacobus ‘RJ’ Barnard, 21 Caleb Abrahams, 22 Roelof Daniel ‘RD’ Engelbrecht, 23 Abri van der Westhuysen.