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Kick-off is at 17:00 SA time.
The Blue Bulls named their final travelling squad on Wednesday, just before departure to England.
Regular captain Pierre Spies will only play
off the bench in his return to first class rugby after more than 12 months on
the sidelines; hence the decision to employ Stegmann's proven leadership
skills.
The former Springbok flank captained the Blue Bulls with
great success in the Currie Cup competition in the past.
Another former captain, Victor Matfield, will travel to London as part of the coaching team and not as a player and will not be in action over the weekend.
A number of Matfield's Springbok team members who travelled to Europe in November will start the match, but flyhalf Handre Pollard will only be used of the bench as the playmaker has just recovered from a foot injury.
Jan Serfontein and Francois Hougaard will start, as well as Trevor Nyakane, who missed the season-opening friendly against the Cheetahs last weekend due to a back spasm.
"We are keen for a competitive outing
that will test our combinations selected for this match," Blue
Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said.
"We will be looking to give a number of
subs some game time, but we’ll also be aware that momentum will be important
during the match."
The men from Pretoria start their Super Rugby campaign at home to the Stormers on February 14.
Teams:
Saracens
TBA
Blue Bulls
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Jamba
Ulengo, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter,
9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Deon Stegmann (captain), 5 Grant
Hattingh, 4 Jacques du Plessis, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Trevor Nyakane
Substitutes: Jaco Visagie, Mornè Mellett, Marcel van der Merwe, Dayan vd
Westhuizen, RG Snyman, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Roelof Smith, Pierre Spies,
Piet van Zyl, Rudy Paige, Handrè Pollard, William Small-Smith, Duncan Matthews,
Jesse Kriel
