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Vermeulen returns for Bulls to face Lions

Cape Town - Duane Vermeulen, Rosko Specman and Warrick Gelant will return to the Bulls starting team to face the Lions in their final Super Rugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The backline duo picked up injuries during the Bulls tour to Australasia, while Vermeulen missed the New Zealand leg of the tour due to the World Cup rest protocols.

Coach Pote Human also had to replace injured lock Jason Jenkins and hooker, Schalk Brits, in a side that show six changes to the one that started against the Highlanders in Dunedin.

Gelant takes over from Divan Rossouw (bench) and Specman's return is at the expense of Dylan Sage, with Johnny Kotze moving from wing to outside centre.

Andre Warner comes in at scrumhalf in place of Embrose Papier in a rotational move.

In the pack, Vermeulen's return resulted in Marco van Staden moving back to six, with Ruan Steenkamp benched and Jannes Kirsten slotting in for Jenkins, with Eli Snyman coming onto the bench in his place.

Johan Grobbelaar will be back-up hooker to Jaco Visagie, who took over from Schalk Brits in Dunedin.

The match kicks off at 17:15 on Saturday.

Teams

Bulls

15 Warrick Gelant , 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Handre Pollard (captain), 9 Andre Warner, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jannes Kirsten, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Lizo Gqoboka  

Substitutes: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Eli Snyman, 20 Ruan Steenkamp, 21 Ivan van Zyl,  22 Manie Libbok, Divan Rossouw 

Lions

TBA

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