Sharks v Bulls: Teams

Sharks coach John Plumtree has made several changes to his team to face the Bulls at the Absa Stadium on Saturday, bringing back John Smit and Jannie du Plessis into the front row.

Smit will start at tighthead prop while, elsewhere in the forwards, Keegan Daniel usurps Jacques Botes at flanker.

In the backs, Rory Kockott returns from his one-match ban and Riaan Swanepoel partners Adi Jacobs in the midfield, as Brad Barritt is still concussed.

Charl McLeod drops to the bench and is joined by Andries Strauss, who knocks Luxuko Vulindlu out of the matchday squad altogether.

It could be that the Sharks are already out of the running for a semi-final place by the time the game kicks off but they will be desperate to scupper the chances of their South African rivals, who beat them in the Super 14 final two years ago.

Importance

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has named JP Nel at outside centre for Saturday's decisive Super 14 clash in Durban, while scrum-half Fourie du Preez has been passed fit to play.

Bulls team doctor Org Strauss has cleared Du Preez, who injured his calf against the Western Force for Saturday's crunch match.

The rest of the team has remained unchanged, with Du Preez in the starting line-up and Heini Adams providing cover from the bench.

Ludeke insists his team is only thinking about the weekend's encounter and says the clash against the Sharks is their most important match of the season.

"We take it week by week," he said. "We live and die with this approach and nothing has changed during the week.

"We started preparing for the Sharks on Monday and all our focus is on Saturday night's game."

Captain Victor Matfield also understands the vital importance of the game, but is adamant there is a lot of excitement in the Bulls' camp.

"This is going to be a huge game and like in all the other matches we will focus all our attention on our strong points," Matfield said. "We want to control the controllables and hopefully it will go well."

Sharks: 15 Stefan Terblanche, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Riaan Swanepoel, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Keegan Daniel, 5 Johann Muller (c), 4 Steven Sykes, 3 John Smit, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Jannie du Plessis, 17 Deon Carstens, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Botes, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Monty Dumond, 22 Andries Strauss.

Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana; 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Rayno Gerber, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Jaco Pretorius.