Champions Cup: Johan Ackermann rings the changes for Bulls' French affair

Bulls boss Ackermann has pressed the reset button ahead of Friday night's clash. There are plenty of changes from last weekend's team: seven in the starting forwards, four in the backline, plus multiple bench rotations.

Captain Ruan Nortje gets a rest among the replacements with Coetzee back in harness as captain. Two of the most exciting changes feature the return of Kurt-Lee Arendse and Cheswill Jooste, both on the wings. This means a shift for speedster Sebastian de Klerk, who slots in at outside centre.

In-form Mpilo Gumede gets a welcome start, while promising lock Reinhardt Ludwig is also back in favour.

The bench offers a good blend of grunt and guile with the likes of Marco van Staden, Cobus Wiese and Jeandre Rudolph to call on.

Bulls - 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheswill Jooste, 13 Sebastian de Klerk, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Marcell Coetzee (c), 6 Mpilo Gumede, 5 Ruan Vermaak, 4 Reinhardt Ludwig, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Replacements: 16 Marco van Staden, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Ruan Nortje, 20 Cobus Wiese, 21 Keagan Johannes, 22 David Kriel, 23 Jeandre Rudolph.

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