Rugby: Crusaders set to face Bulls

The Crusaders are set to face a depleted Bulls team in Saturday morning's Rebel Sport Super 14 match at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

Springbok wing Akona Ndugane is recovering from a stress fracture in his shin and joins Brian Habana on the sidelines, who injured a shoulder while scoring a try. The defending champions are already missing the locking duo of Victor Matfield who is still with Toulon in France and Bakkies Botha who is recovering from injury.

Habana, who is the IRB's Player of the Year, has criticised the new rules being trialled in the competition, saying they are turning the game into rugby league. The South African and Bulls winger hopes the so-called Experimental Law Variations remain experimental.

- Newstalk ZB