Springbok coach Peter de Villiers will travel to the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday to cast an eagle eye over some of the World Cup hopefuls.
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The defending Super Rugby champion Bulls take on the Pumas, disguised as a Premier XV, in a pre-season outing at the soccer venue, but it is a number of Bulls stars returning from injury that will take centre stage.
Fourie du Preez, Danie Rossouw, Wynand Olivier and last year’s South African player of the year, Gurthrö Steenkamp, all make their return after being injured and de Villiers will follow their progress with great interest in this World Cup year.
The Pumas team have included their Springbok Sevens acquisition JW Jonker and hooker Hans van Dyk, who last week represented the Bulls against the Kings, in their starting XV.
Last year Jimmy Stonehouse’s team beat the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup competition at the same Mbombela Stadium.
Pumas: 15 Johan Jackson, 14 Wilhelm Loock, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Dewald Pretorius, 11 Deon Scholtz, 10 Coenie van Wyk, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Eduan van der Walt, 7 Jaco Bouwer, 6 Corné Steenkamp (captain), 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Andries Kruger, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Hannes van Dyk, 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements: 16 Brett Nel, 17 De Jay Terblanche, 18 Michael Rice, 19 JP Mostert, 20 Shaun Venter, 21 Tiaan Marx, 22 Charl Bezuidenhout.
Date: Saturday, February 5
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Kick-off: 18.00 (16.00 GMT)
Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referees: Tiaan Jonker, Stefan Breytenbach