Bulls v Sharks: Teams

Botha: career milestone

Bulls lock Bakkies Botha will play in his 100th Super Rugby match for his team when they take on the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Botha recovered from the knee strain that kept him out of last weekend's match against the Stormers and is one of two changes to the starting line-up from the side that won in Cape Town.

Botha combines with Victor Matfield at lock again, which means that Danie Rossouw moves to the bench, where he replaces Derick Kuün.

Chiliboy Ralepelle and Gary Botha swap around in their rotational switch which see each of the two internationals play two matches on the trot.

Coach Frans Ludeke also made two more changes to the bench.

Fourie du Preez is fit again after ligament damage to his knee and is included on the bench, replacing Dustin Jinka, while Akona Ndungane was picked in place of Stephan Dippenaar.

Botha said it was an incredible honour and privilege to play his 100th match in front of his home crowd.

"We are determined to deliver a good performance and to make sure we qualify for the play-offs. I would want nothing more than to contribute towards that," Botha said.

"At the Bulls, personal milestones are put on the backburner and the team comes first, so my focus will be on what I can deliver towards the team effort."

Sharks head coach John Plumtree has chosen to start Frederic Michalak at fly-half for the must-win clash at Loftus.

Michalak gets his first start in three years which means a shift back to full-back for Patrick Lambie in a position he knows well.

In changes from last week, Eugene van Staden makes way for Jannie du Plessis and brother Bismarck starts at hooker.

Alistair Hargreaves will partner Gerhard Mostert in the second-row after the loss of Steven Sykes to injury, meaning Ross Skeate comes into the matchday 22.

The loose forward trio sees Jean Deysel back in the side after missing the last two games, pairing up with Keegan Daniel and Ryan Kankowski.

Plumtree has opted for a 5-2 split weighed heavily towards forwards for what is expected to be a massive physical battle up front in Pretoria.

"We have plenty to lose and don't want to be knocked out of this competition. We do want to worry about the Brumbies-Waratahs score, although I guess we will keep a close eye on it. We'll know what we need to do before the game," he told the Sharks website.

"From the Bulls' perspective, there is a lot of emotion, a few of their guys having their last game. But we're a proud bunch of guys, we don't want to go up there and roll over and die for the Bulls.

"We want to play some good rugby, that's our aim. We need to get our strategy right and make sure that everything else in terms of attitude and commitment is there and we can give them a good go."

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Francois Brummer, 22 Akona Ndungane.

Sharks: 15 Patrick Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Stefan Terblanche (capt), 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Alistair Hargreaves, 4 Gerhard Mostert, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Ross Skeate, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Marcell Coetzee, 21 Adrian Jacobs, 22 Louis Ludik.