Bulls select larger training squad for 2018 Super Rugby season

POLOKWANE – Mitchell included a number of new faces to the squad as well as players still plying their trade in Japan, most notably locks RG Snyman and Jason Jenkins.

Two Blitzboks, Tim Agaba and Stedman Gans, is also in the group, although preparing with the Springbok Sevens in Stellenbosch at the moment.

“There’s no doubt that the team love travelling to Polokwane and playing this pre-season fixture. This is an extremely important time of the year for us, as we head full-steam towards the start of the Vodacom Super Rugby season.

2017 was a tough year in terms of results with many lessons learnt, but we ended the year with excitement and a clear direction on what we need to do and where we want to be.

We have had an exciting and positive start to the year and are keen to get onto the field against quality opposition, like in this fixture against the Cell C Sharks.

They are a great team and have certainly prepared well to this stage, so I expect that the Polokwane rugby fans are in for a treat.”We are all pretty excited to get the pre-season underway and start putting the hard yards in,” Mitchell said.

“The squad shows a good combination of old hands and young upstarts and they all know one thing, no spot in the final squad is guaranteed.

“Everyone will have to contribute and work very hard to make it into the final group and that will bring some competition in the squad, something that can only benefit us in the long run.”

The Bulls will play three warm-up matches in 2018. The squad will be split to face the Emirates Lions in Johannesburg on 27 January, and the Sharks in Polokwane on the same day. They will then head out to a first-ever match in the US, when they will face the DHL Stormers at Stub Hub Centre in Los Angeles on 3 February.

Bulls vs Sharks warm-up match  expected to thrill local fans on Saturday: