Goosen at 15 for Bulls in Durban

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Johan Goosen starts at fullback as Jake White adds three new faces to the Vodacom Bulls match-day 23 to face the Sharks in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Saturday.

Goosen, who ran out at flyhalf in last week’s defeat to the DHL Stormers in Cape Town, is one of five backline changes for the URC derby clash in Durban.

Bernard van der Linde slots in at scrumhalf with Embrose Papier dropping to the bench, as Chris Smith starts at No 10. Kurt-Lee Arendse and fellow Springbok speedster Canan Moodie will start at left and right wing respectively, with Harold Vorster and Cornal Hendricks pairing up in midfield.

In the forwards, Simphiwe Matanzima will start at loosehead prop supported by Johan Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith in the front row while the second and back row remains the same as the one that did duty against the Stormers.

Hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels and utility back David Kriel complete the list of newcomers in the squad.

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White said the fixture is not a do-or-die but an opportunity to register another good performance in the competition.

“Looking at their team, it is easy to see why they are the strongest provincial team in the competition,” the Bulls director of rugby said.

“We are going to play against nine Springboks, we did it in Cape Town last season again the SA A side when nobody gave us a chance. Again, the uniqueness of this competition is that anybody can beat anybody, whether you are 11th on the log playing the top-ranked side, you can still get the result,”

“We are going there to give it our full go. We have to play the best rugby to give us the best possible opportunity to get into the playoffs and everybody knows that if you play good rugby in the final few weeks of the competition, you have a good chance at winning the tournament.”

On Goosen at fullback, and Van der Linde at 9, White said: “Last time we played them we actually picked Smith and Goosen at 10 and 15 and the combination worked, we played reasonably well. Giving us two kickers and two passers, two kicking options which help us a lot. There is also a chance of rain [in Durban] and that will suit us a bit with the two at flyhalf and fullback.

“It will be an interesting game because of the chance of rain and his ability to kick. [Van der Linde] played well for us against Lyon and it will be good to see him in the field again for us.”

Asked about starting Matanzima, White added: “A guy like Simphiwe, I felt I have not given him enough game time. I could see the frustration in his eyes that he did not have enough time to stamp his authority. He scrummed really well and I was probably conservative in giving the front row more time since they played so well. So, I felt I needed to give Simphiwe more time this week,”

“This will be a good test for him, scrumming with Grobbies and Mornay and this will be a good test for him to see how he plays as a starter.

“He is a loosehead prop chomping at the bid to start and he is ready to give us a good game. Sometimes when you create competition at certain positions, you get different results out of each person.”

BY THE NUMBERS: Sharks vs Bulls

Photo: @Springboks/Twitter

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Devin Hermanus