Bulls director of rugby Jake White has named in his starting line-up for Saturday’s Super Rugby Unlocked clash against the Sharks at Loftus. ‘
Van der Merwe, who will be making his first appearance for the Bulls in the Competition since he rejoined them from France earlier this year, replaces fellow Springbok Trevor Nyakane who has dropped to the bench.
“We’ve got another opportunity this week against the Sharks but we need to be better than we were in Bloemfontein. We cannot afford to depend on a late comeback to save our graces‚ which means dominating all phases of play from the first kick-off‚” said White, who has a number of changes to the team that lost to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last weekend.
Among other changes, exciting David Kriel moves to fullback to take over from experienced Gio Aplon who has been ruled out for the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.