Blue Bulls Under-21 centre Stefan Watermeyer will partner Springbok Jaco Pretorius in the midfield when the Bulls tackle the Sharks in a Currie Cup match in Durban on Friday.

Watermeyer was called up for his Currie Cup debut after regular Bulls No.12 Wynand Olivier was called up by Bok coach Peter de Villiers. Olivier is on the Bok bench to play the All Blacks in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Watermeyer is a specialist No.12 and after playing for the South African Schools team, SA Under-19 and SA Under-20, coach Frans Ludeke felt he is ready for Currie Cup action.

"Stefan has been in the system for four years and he had a particularly good game in the warm-up match against Border," the Bulls mentor said on Tuesday.

"He was rock solid in the Vodacom Cup and therefore I have no doubt that he will be able to do the job for us against the Sharks."

Watermeyer is another product of the Hoerskool Waterkloof in Pretoria, where he played numerous matches with Francois Brummer, who will again be the starting flyhalf after his stunning display in the 30-22 win over Western Province last Saturday.

JC Roos' place on the replacement bench will, however, be taken by Marnitz Boshoff.

Boshoff is an Under-20 player who has played for the Bulls' junior teams in the last couple of years. He is a former SA Schools player and ever since arriving at Loftus as an 18-year-old he has been earmarked for higher glory.

The rest of the team has been left unchanged, but the forwards are adamant to make a huge step-up in the scrums on Friday.

Ludeke said that Balie Swart assisted the pack with their scrumming on Tuesday and his vast knowledge was definitely of great help to the Blue Bulls.

"Balie has been around for years and he knows what is happening in the front row," Ludeke said.

"He has been involved with coaching for a number of years and it was great to tap into his knowledge. We've made a few adjustments and I believe our scrum will be much better come Friday."

Blue Bulls: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Stefan Watermeyer, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Dries van Schalkwyk, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuun (captain), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Jaco Engels, 19 Fudge Mabeta, 20 Gerrit-Jan van Velze, 21 Marnitz Boshoff, 22 Marius Delport.

Date: Friday, July 24
Venue: Absa Stadium, Durban
Kick-off: 18.00 (16.00 GMT)
Referee: Mark Lawrence
Assistant Referees: Tiaan Jonker, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Michael Cupido