Bulls field 11 Springboks against Glasgow Warriors in URC semi-final at Murrayfield

The Bulls will field 11 Springboks in their starting XV when they face Glasgow Warriors in the URC semi-final at Murrayfield on Saturday, with a further five internationals named among the replacements.

Marcell Coetzee leads the side as captain on his 100th appearance for the Bulls, while hooker Johan Grobbelaar reaches the milestone of his 150th cap in the same fixture.

Head coach Johan Ackermann acknowledged the scale of the occasion. “It’s a great privilege to be in the URC semi-final,” he said. “After a long season there are only four clubs left, and we are grateful to be one of those and to play the number one side. It shows the quality of their players and we have a lot of respect for what they’ve achieved. Added to that is the opportunity to play at an iconic venue like Murrayfield. It will be an amazing day. It’s a good challenge and one we look forward to — a game of small margins, I suspect.”

Glasgow enter the tie as top seeds and are contesting a third successive URC semi-final. The Scottish side carry a strong home record in knockout rugby, and the overall head-to-head between the two clubs stands at 4-3 in Glasgow’s favour.

The Bulls, however, arrive with momentum of their own. They beat Glasgow at Scotstoun earlier this season and remain unbeaten in URC semi-finals, having won all three previous appearances at this stage. Their record in Scotland is more modest — two wins from eight visits — but the Pretoria side will draw confidence from that earlier result on Scottish soil this campaign.