New signing Lood de Jager will make his first appearance for the Bulls against the Chiefs in Brisbane on Thursday.
De Jager, who moved from the Cheetahs, will form a lock combination with RG Snyman in a team that will also see the return to Bulls colours for Jacques Potgieter, who won the Super Rugby title with the Waratahs a couple of years back.
Handré Pollard is also taking the field for the first time in more than a year and will lead the side. Jesse Kriel was named at fullback and Trevor Nyakane will start at tighthead in the match against the Chiefs.
'We don't have much time left in the pre-season, so it will be important for certain combinations to work well in this match,' Bulls coach Nollis Marais said. 'The Chiefs are a formidable team and this will be an important match to see where we are this early in the season.'
Bulls – 15 Jesse Kriel, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Jamba Ulengo, 10 Handré Pollard (c), 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Jacques Potgieter, 6 Nic de Jager, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Subs: 16 Edgar Maruthlule, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Jason Jenkins, 19 Ruan Steenkamp, 20 Piet van Zyl, 21 Tian Schoeman, 22 Warrick Gelant, 23 John-Roy Jenkinson, 24 Jacobie Adriaanse, 25 Renaldo Bothma, 26 Francois Brummer, 27 JT Jackson.
