Ewels to make debut for Bulls

England lock Charlie Ewels will make his debut for the Vodacom Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup against the Fidelity ADT Lions on Saturday night.

The match, which will kick off after the Bulls Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Leinster at 18h30 will give the Bath captain the perfect chance to start staking his claim for an England spot again.

Ewels had to go through some work permit hassles, but now that it is sorted out, is ready to run out for the Bulls.

Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White explained the red tape that needed to be cleared up.

“I thought everything was fine, then he had to go back and get a work visa. Apparently the collective agreement says you have to pay a player - I think it was put in place in case you use club guys and don’t pay them. I don’t think in their wildest dreams they envisaged someone coming to play for nothing,” White said.

“But because of that he had to get a work permit based on the fact that if he gets any money he has to have a work permit. We had some really good help from the British Embassy, got some really good help from the Director General from South Africa.

“He went back to London and got it in London and organised everything and got back on Thursday morning, so he is looking forward to playing.”

Ewels steps in for Janko Swanepoel at lock while the other two changes are that WJ Steenkamp replaces Nizaam Carr and Juan Mostert comes into the side in place of Franco Knoetze.

Vodacom Blue Bulls: Juan Mostert; Sibongile Novuka, Lionel Mapoe, Chris Barend Smit, Wandisile Simelane, Morne Steyn, Zak Burger, WJ Steenkamp, Reinhardt Ludwig, Cameron Hanekom, Charlie Ewels, Jacques du Plesiss, Sebastian Lombard, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima.

Replacements: Jacques van Rooyen, Tiaan Lange, Robert Hunt, Merwe Olivier, Mihlali Mosi, Bernard van der Linde, Cornal Hendricks, Kabelo Mokoena