Springbok lock Ruan Nortje will captain the Vodacom Bulls against Boland in Wellington on Friday but there is still no sign of Cameron Hanekom.
Nortje leads a 34-man group for the clash at Boland Stadium (5:30pm kick-off), with several frontline Springboks unavailable.
Prop Wilco Louw, flyhalf Handre Pollard and winger Kurt-Lee Arendse are completing the final week of their mandatory Bok rest period, while Elrigh Louw, who got married last weekend, has not travelled.
Hooker Akker van der Merwe is set to undergo neck surgery and faces three months out of action, while Hanekom remains sidelined with a hamstring problem.
“It’s literally a week-to-week case with Cameron, but I can’t give an indication of when we expect him to be fit,” Bulls coach Johan Ackermann told Netwerk24.
The match has been arranged as preparation for next Saturday’s Vodacom URC encounter against the Sharks in Pretoria, with the Bulls having last played on 31 January.
The Sharks, meanwhile, will face the Lions at Ellis Park this Saturday, and be battle-ready for the Bulls.
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“We’ve been off for the past two weeks and it’s necessary to get rugby sharp again,” Ackermann said. “You can’t simulate that in training.”
BULLS – 15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Stedman Gans, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Ruan Nortje (c), 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.
Bench: 16 Alulutho Tshakweni, 17 Juann Else, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 JF van Heerden, 20 Cobus Wiese, 21 Marco van Staden, 22 Reinhardt Ludwig, 23 Nizaam Carr, 24 Zak Burger, 25 Willie le Roux, 26 Paul de Wet, 27 Jan Serfontein, 28 Canan Moodie, 29 Cheswill Jooste, 30 David Kriel, 31 Sti Sithole, 32 Khuta Mchunu, 33 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 34 Ruben Groenewald.
STATE OF THE URC: High-flying Sharks hunt Lions
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
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