Jake White names his Bulls team for URC semi against Leinster

Bulls director of rugby Jake White has picked his chosen men for the team’s United Rugby Championship semifinal against Leinster in Dublin on Friday night (kick-off 8.35pm).

White has stuck largely with the same side that has done the business for him and the union of late, with quarterfinal hero Chris Smith retained at flyhalf. Veteran No 10 Morne Steyn will play off the bench.

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Smith slotted a last-gasp drop-goal in a tight quarterfinal match against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday to break the deadlock.

There are, however four changes on the bench from last week, with Simphiwe Matanzima, Bismarck du Plessis, WJ Steenkamp and Kurt-Lee Arendse coming in.

Leinster finished top of the URC points table after the regular season and will play at home in Dublin this weekend, and next week in the final, should they progress that far.

“Leinster are a phenomenal side that are very well-coached and are full of international players,” said White, ahead of the match.

“You look at their bench and they have players who have more caps for the club than the entire Bulls team combined. So, we are definitely up against a quality side, and it will be a great challenge at the RDS Arena.”

The other semifinal is between the the Stormers and Ulster, in Cape Town, on Saturday afternoon.

Bulls: Canan Moodie, David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Zak Burger, Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee (capt), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench: Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima, Robert Hunt, Janko Swanepoel, WJ Steenkamp, Embrose Papier, Morne Steyn, Kurt-Lee Arendse