With departing Springbok Ruan Nortje about to reach 150 caps for the Vodacom Bulls, the Pretoria side have loaded up with power and pace for their Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarterfinal showdown with Irish province Munster on Saturday.
Nortje returns to the engineroom to replace Cobus Wiese, who drops to the bench for the clash, while the other changes that the Bulls have made are significant to signal their intent ahead of the big early afternoon clash.
There is a change on the wings as Kurt-Lee Arendse, soon to depart for Japan as well, moves back onto the right wing in the place of Devon Williams while Stravino Jacobs moves back onto the left wing in the place of Sergeal Petersen.
Up front, captain Marcell Coetzee returns from a bout of flu to take his place in the loose trio alongside Cameron Hanekom and Elrigh Louw, with Jeandre Rudolph dropping down to an impact role off the bench.
The Bulls are looking to try and at least emulate their appearance in the final from last season and have made the quarterfinals of every URC tournament so far, but struggled against Munster in their league game at Loftus Versfeld where they won 34-31 in a tight game.
The Bulls have their halfback pairing of Embrose Papier and Handre Pollard, with Papier the man of the match last time out with a brace of tries that gave the Bulls the edge.
On the bench the Bulls have a formidable line-up, with Springboks Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels and Wiese up front, while Pietersen, Stedman Gans and Paul de Wet make up the rest of the five three split.
The Bulls have only lost one game in their last 10 and will be looking to press home that home ground advantage.
Vodacom Bulls: Willie le Roux; Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Harold Vorster, Stravino Jacobs; Handre Pollard, Embrose Papier; Cameron Hanekom, Elrigh Louw, Marcell Coetzee (captain), Ruan Nortje, Ruan Vermaak, Wilco Louw, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp.
Replacements: Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Francois Klopper, Cobus Wiese, Jeandre Rudolph, Paul de Wet, Stedman Gans, Sergeal Petersen.
Unavailable: Cheswill Jooste, Sebastian de Klerk.