Bulls bench Willie le Roux, Canan Moodie as Boeta Chamberlain at flyhalf for Lions showdown

Bulls boss Jake White sprung a major surprise on Friday by selecting Springboks Willie le Roux and Canan Moodie on the bench for Saturday’s massive United Rugby Championship Gauteng derby against the Lions at Ellis Park (2.45pm kick-off).

Le Roux returns from “leave” and was one of the contenders to fill in for the injured Johan Goosen at flyhalf, while he may at least have expected to don the No 15 jersey for the Jukskei Derby.

Moodie was one of the replacements in last week’s 48-7 Champions Cup triumph over Stade Francais at Loftus Versfeld, and got some second-half game-time in Pretoria.

But instead, both Le Roux and Moodie will watch from the sidelines initially, with Devon Williams retained at fullback and Sebastian de Klerk and Sergeal Petersen continuing at wing.

To be fair to all three, they produced strong performances last weekend, while Le Roux and Moodie had long international seasons last year, so White may be easing them back into action.

With Goosen sidelined with a knee injury, Boeta Chamberlain will call the shots at flyhalf, while the other injury-enforced change is in the second row, where Cobus Wiese comes in for Ruan Vermaak.

There is a further change on the bench, with Keagan Johannes replacing Zak Burger, who got a slight knock against Stade Francais.

Le Roux and Johannes are back-up flyhalf options, while inside centre Harold Vorster will earn his 50th URC cap for the Bulls, having played in 76 games for the Lions previously.

“When derbies come, the form book gets chucked out the window. A win in the conference is like double points because you take points from others around you,” White said on Friday.

“We must focus on how good we are and how we manage our systems and structures.

“This is always one of those derbies where you have a few players who were at either club and then moved on to the other. It’s always a difficult game, where you always seem to struggle to shake them off because it is somewhat personal.” | Independent Media Sport

Bulls Team

15 Devon Williams 14 Sebastian de Klerk 13 David Kriel 12 Harold Vorster 11 Sergeal Petersen 10 Boeta Chamberlain 9 Embrose Papier 8 Cameron Hanekom 7 Elrigh Louw (co-captain) 6 Marcell Coetzee 5 Ruan Nortjé (co-captain) 4 Cobus Wiese 3 Wilco Louw 2 Johan Grobbelaar 1 Gerhard Steenekamp.

Bench: 16 Akker van der Merwe 17 Alulutho Tshakweni 18 Francois Klopper 19 Reinhardt Ludwig 20 Nizaam Carr 21 Keagan Johannes 22 Willie le Roux 23 Canan Moodie.