Bulls v Brumbies: Teams

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has made two changes to his starting XV following the opening 51-34 victory over the Cheetahs.

One is enforced with outside centre Jaco Pretorius sustaining a thigh injury in the weekend game, his place going to Stephen Dippenaar.

The other change sees wing Francois Hougaard return to the line-up after pulling out after the warm-up against Cheetahs with a knee injury.

John Mametsa reverts to the bench in a match that sees Pedrie Wannenburg become the first Bulls player and second South African to make 100 Super Rugby appearance for the same franchise, just 24 hours after John Smit becomes the first.

"They are a quality side with a lot of international players," said Ludeke. "They have a great record in Super Rugby and bring a lot to the game.

"They have an excellent kicking game and are famous for their running game. So we will have to be at our best to beat them."

Brumbies will give Super 14 debuts to Matt Giteau and Rocky Elsom after they were ruled out of the opening day win over Western Force.

Giteau will thus link up with former Western Force team-mate Josh Valentine behind the scrum at half-back, while Matt Toomua and Mitch Chapman are benched.

The only other change to the line-up sees tighthead prop Salesi Maafu replace Guy Shepherdson in the front row.

"The Bulls at Loftus Versfeld presents a significant challenge for any side in the competition," said coach Andy Friend.

"There's an appreciation within the side that we need to step up from where we finished last week and we've identified where we need to improve against a quality Bulls outfit.

"We certainly need to be more physical in the contest and I think Rocky will help us achieve that. Matt will bring further class to our backline.

"It's a tough call for Matty Toomua who's been excellent for us this year and he's formed a great combination with Christian (Lealiifano) at 12 but Gits is a world-class player that you can't leave out of your side."

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner; 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Stephan Dippenaar, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Francois Hougaard; 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez; 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Pedrie Wannenburg, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.

Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Bees Roux, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Derick Kuun, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22 John Mametsa.

Brumbies: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Pat McCabe, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Christian Lealiifano, 11 Francis Fainifo, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Josh Valentine, 8 Stephen Hoiles (capt), 7 George Smith, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 Justin Harrison, 3 Salesi Maafu, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander.
Replacements: 16 Huia Edmonds, 17 Guy Shepherdson, 18 Ben Hand, 19 Mitchell Chapman, 20 Patrick Phibbs, 21 Matt Toomua, 22 Tyrone Smith.