Coetzee to start for Vodacom Bulls on Friday

Springbok loose forward Marcell Coetzee will earn his first cap for the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria on Friday, when the log leaders in the PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA clash with the second-placed DHL Stormers.

The clash at Loftus Versfeld is scheduled to start at 19h00 and will be broadcast on the SuperSport Grandstand and Rugby channels.

Coetzee joined the Vodacom Bulls from Ulster recently and he is one of three Test players that will make a first appearance in the competition. Ivan van Zyl returns from injury and will start at scrumhalf, while Gio Aplon will play off the bench against his former province.

Vodacom Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White also recalled flyhalf Morné Steyn and wing Stravino Jacobs, and opted to start with the front row of Mornay Smith and Gerhard Steenekamp on either side of hooker Johan Grobbelaar.

Trevor Nyakane and flank Marco van Staden will provide Springbok experience off the bench.

White welcomed back the injured players: "We've welcomed back Gio and Ivan from injury while Marcell gets his first start for us. It’s great having experience of this calibre coming back into our system as we head into the busines end of the tournament.

"The loss against the Lions put things into perspective as we cannot afford even one slip up in terms of the log. We need to make amends for it and there's not many things tougher than a classic North-South derby," he added.

Vodacom Bulls: 15 David Kriel, 14 Madosh Tambwe, 13 Marco Jansen van Vuren, 12 Cornal Hendricks, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Elrigh Louw, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Gerhard Steenekamp. Replacements: 16 Schalk Erasmus, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Zak Burger, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Gio Aplon.

Vodacom Bulls PRO14 Rainbow Cup SA Marcell Coetzee Jake White DHL Stormers

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