Nortje, van Staden return as the Vodacom Bulls

Director of Rugby, Jake White has made five changes to his side that will take on the Glasgow Warriors in round 16 of the 2023/24 Vodacom United Rugby Championship, to be played at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday 11 May 2024. Two of the changes are positional whilst three are personnel changes.

• Nortje returns to match fitness & captains
• Grobbelaar and Van der Merwe switch places
• Eskom starts, Klopper returns to the matchday 23-fold
• White retains the same backline that did duty in round fifteen

Akker van der Merwe and Johan Grobbelaar have swapped places with the former slotting into the front row at hooker flanked by Gerhard Steenekamp (loose-head) and Wilco Louw at tight-head. Nortje comes into the second row to pair up with name-sake, Ruan Vermaak at lock which sees Reinhardt Ludwig move to the impact squad, alongside Nizaam Carr who makes way for van Staden at blind-side flank. Elrigh Louw starts at openside once more as does Cameron Hanekom at eight.

Behind the forwards will be the halfback duo Embrose Papier and Chris Smith, with Papier at scrumhalf and Smith at flyhalf. The two will link the forwards with a retained backline from round 15. Kurt-Lee Arendse will run at left wing with Canan Moodie on the right side of the park whilst Harold Vorster and David Kriel are at centre and Willie Le Roux at fullback.

White has gone with a five-three which sees Grobbelaar and Francois Klopper as the other two personnel changes in the matchday 23. Simphiwe Matanzima, Reinhardt Ludwig, Nizaam Carr, Zak Burger, Jaco van der Valt and Devon Williams complete the 23 men reporting for duty.

VODACOM BULLS vs GLASGOW WARRIORS STARTING XV: 1. Gerhard Steenekamp, 2. Akker van der Merwe, 3. Wilco Louw, 4. Ruan Vermaak, 5. Ruan Nortje (c), 6. Marcon van Staden, 7. Elrigh Louw (c), 8. Cameron Hanekom, 9. Embrose Papier, 10. Chris Smith, 11. Kurt-Lee Arendse, 12. Harold Vorster, 13. David Kriel, 14. Canan Moodie, 15. Willie Le Roux

VODACOM BULLS IMPACT SQUAD: 16. Johan Grobbelaar, 17. Simphiwe Matanzima, 18. Francois Klopper, 19. Reinhardt Ludwig, 20. Nizaam Carr, 21. Zak Burger, 22. Jaco van der Valt, 23. Devon Williams