Burger Odendaal will take over the Vodacom Bulls captaincy against the Blues in Auckland on Friday as Duane Vermeulen has been rested.

Vermeulen, who went off injured against the Brumbies, returned to South Africa as part of the SA Rugby agreement with contracted Springboks and their franchises.

With Handré Pollard also back in the country recovering from injury, Odendaal will lead the team this weekend.

Vermeulen’s place in the team is taken by Marco van Staden, with Paul Schoeman shifting to No 8 to accommodate the flanker.

The only other change to the team sees Ivan van Zyl replace Andre Warner at scrumhalf.

Bulls – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Burger Odendaal (c), 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Paul Schoeman, 7 Hanro Liebenberg, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 RG Snyman, 4 Jason Jenkins, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Lizo Gqoboka.
Subs: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 Jannes Kirsten, 20 Ruan Steenkamp, 21 André Warner, 22 JT Jackson, Divan Rossouw.

Vodacom Super Rugby teams (Round 16)

Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix