Bulls rest their Bok players

The Bulls will rest some of their Springboks this weekend when they take on the Western Force at Loftus on Saturday.

In their opening four weeks of the season, when they came off with two wins and two defeats, the side from Pretoria utilised their full-strength side - bar players who had injuries.

Now, as a result of an agreement between the South African Super rugby sides and the SA Rugby Union to rest and manage Bok-contracted players, the Bulls will give some of their national players more rest following last week's bye.

"There's a commitment that we made to Saru to rotate players within [the first] five weeks so we need to do that," said Bulls coach Frans Ludeke.

The teams need to be smart in their management of the players so as not to jeopardise their own Super rugby ambitions.

Those likely to be left out this week include veteran lock Victor Matfield, flank Deon Stegmann and prop Trevor Nyakane, who is likely to be placed on the bench after four impressive showings, close to a full 80 minutes each, playing out of position at tighthead.

Grant Hattingh will then take over the reins from Matfield at lock, and Arno Botha will return to the side at flank for Stegmann and Bok Marcel van der Merwe will start in Nyakane's spot.