Cape Town - Bulls coach Nollis Marais insists his charges will have a lot to play for when they tackle the Sharks in Durban on Friday (19:00 kick-off).
The Bulls have won only three of 12 Super Rugby games this year and are out of the playoffs race - but it does not mean they will lack motivation at Kings Park.
“We have a lot to play for still. The guys want to finish the season strong and as you can expect from a local derby, will be desperate to win this one against the Sharks, so we are pretty keen to get going again. Our Springboks are in good nick and the rest of the guys are well rested and full of energy and enthusiasm,” Marais said after naming his team on Wednesday.
Bulls captain, Adriaan Strauss, said the team is experienced enough to handle the pressure in the Shark Tank.
“We have one or two new faces, but generally, we have enough experience and talent to produce a very competitive performance. The Cell C Sharks are a quality outfit, no doubt and has been pretty hard to break down this year, especially in Durban, but we have some ideas on how to beat them.”
Teams:
Sharks
15 Curwin Bosch, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 S’bura Sithole, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Sbu Nkosi, 10 Garth April, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Tera Mtembu, 6 Philip van der Walt (captain), 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Thomas du Toit
Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Jacques Vermeulen, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Jeremy Ward, 23 Marius Louw
Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Kefentse Mahlo, 10 Tony Jantjies, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Nic de Jager, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Conraad Van Vuuren, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Pierre Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Johnroy Jenkins, 19 Shuan Adendorff, 20 Renaldo Bothma, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Burger Odendaal, 23 Tian Schoeman