Johan Ackermann eager to see Bulls' young stars shine in Champions Cup opener

The Bulls have made several changes to their starting XV for the Pretoria clash, with Handre Pollard, Cobus Wiese and Marco van Staden among those handed starting opportunities.

Ackermann said the selection was partly about giving players a chance to stake their claims, while also testing combinations as the Bulls begin their European campaign.

"We wanted to give the guys an opportunity, so the front row is just a straight swap. Cobus [Wiese] played off the bench a lot, so we opted to give him a starting opportunity," Ackermann said on Thursday.

"Marco [Van Staden] hasn't played much in the back row for us for some time [having covered hooker] and we feel it's a position he is still very good at.

"Handre [Pollard] and Curwin [Bosch] are just a straight swap with Handre starting."

The Bulls have also included Cheswill Jooste, Sango Xamlashe and Luan Giliomee, with the latter set to make his first start at fullback after joining the Pretoria-based side recently.

Ackermann said Jooste had been patient while waiting for opportunities, while Xamlashe had impressed in training.

"Cheswill Jooste has been quite patient after featuring off the bench or missing out on selection so far this season, and Sango [Xamlashe] trained really well, and we want to see what he can bring at this level and the same counts for Luan [Giliomee].

"He [Giliomee] slotted in nicely, and we feel he knows everything now; it's a week and a half later and will be close to two weeks by Saturday since he joined the Bulls, and we just want to see what he can do from fullback."

With Canan Moodie unavailable as he follows concussion protocols, the Bulls will field a back three featuring Jooste, Sebastian de Klerk and Giliomee.

Ackermann acknowledged that the combination would be relatively new, but welcomed the opportunity to see how the players performed together.

"It's all new combinations in a sense; Cheswill [Jooste] and Sebastian [De Klerk] have been with us for some time, so Luan is the newbie in the mix.

"In saying that, it's a combination we would like to test and see what they can bring; if it's a nice, warm matchday, we can look to tire them down and hopefully get these guys into a bit of space, and hopefully we'll see that."