Cape Town — The Bulls have bolstered their midfield by recalling Lionel Mapoe to the starting line-up for Saturday’s crunch United Rugby Championship derby against the Stormers at the Cape Town Stadium (2pm kickoff).
Experienced Springbok Mapoe played off the bench in last week’s 34-16 bonus-point victory over Ulster at Loftus Versfeld, with fellow international Cornal Hendricks wearing the No 13 jersey.
But now they have swopped positions, and Mapoe should have a greater impact as he is a specialist outside centre, while Hendricks has made a greater contribution at inside centre over the last few years with his side-stepping and distribution skills.
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Mapoe is more direct and a natural strike-runner, and he will look to keep the Stormers midfield of Rikus Pretorius and Ruhan Nel busy, along with his old partner, Bulls No 12 Harold Vorster.
For the rest of the starting XV announced on Friday, coach Jake White opted to keep the faith in the combination that ran out against Ulster, with Zak Burger continuing at scrumhalf in the absence of Embrose Papier (concussion).
But there are a couple of changes to the forwards on the bench. Veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis comes in for Joe van Zyl as the back-up to Johan Grobbelaar, having been accused of punching Western Province lock Ben-Jason Dixon in Wednesday night’s Currie Cup encounter at Loftus Versfeld.
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The match officials at the time cited that there wasn’t a camera angle that showed the incident, but upon inspection of the television footage, Du Plessis can be seen striking out at Dixon on the ground — although it isn’t clear whether it was a punch or a slap.
Either way, it remains to be seen whether the 37-year-old will face any disciplinary action in that regard, but for the moment, he will be on the Bulls bench on Saturday.
The other new replacement is young lock Janko Swanepoel, who comes in for Reinhardt Ludwig, which should strengthen the Bulls lineout as Swanepoel is an excellent jumper.
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“After a few weeks of testing ourselves against some of the top overseas sides, we are excited to be involved in a local derby this week against an in-form side like the Stormers,” White said on Friday.
“We expect a very tough match in Cape Town. The Stormers have shown over the past few weeks how much of a competitive side they are in the URC.
“They beat us at Loftus Versfeld in our last encounter, and they will definitely be an even tougher opponent this weekend in their own backyard.”
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Bulls Team
15 Kurt-Lee Arendse 14 Canan Moodie 13 Lionel Mapoe 12 Harold Vorster 11 Madosh Tambwe 10 Chris Smith 9 Zak Burger 8 Elrigh Louw 7 Cyle Brink 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain) 5 Ruan Nortje 4 Walt Steenkamp 3 Mornay Smith 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenkamp.
Bench: 16 Bismarck du Plessis 17 Simphiwe Matanzima 18 Robert Hunt 19 Janko Swanepoel 20 Arno Botha 21 Keagan Johannes 22 Morné Steyn 23 Cornal Hendricks.
IOL Sport