The South African side will take on the Irish team at the Sportsground in Galway, with kick-off at 20h35 - the match will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Vodacom Bulls director of rugby, Jake White, has made a handful of changes to the team that featured in the opening round last week.

One of the changes is the inclusion of Springbok speedster Ruan Combrinck at fullback, where he will earn his first starting berth for the side after making his debut off the bench during the Carling Currie Cup. Another change in the back trio is at wing, where Stravino Jacobs will start in the No 11 jersey.

The forwards will buckle down with a new-look front row as Springbok loosehead prop Lizo Gqoboka, hooker Joe van Zyl and tighthead prop Jacques van Rooyen will be part of the starting XV.

“We have another tough encounter ahead of us - to face two top Irish sides back-to-back is no easy challenge,” said White.

“Connacht is a strong, well-coached side; and they will be looking to bounce back from their defeat to Cardiff in the opening round.

“We have also put the defeat to Leinster behind us, and we look forward to testing ourselves, again this week, against another quality outfit in the Vodacom United Rugby Challenge.”

Vodacom Bulls: 15 Ruan Combrinck, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Walt Steenkamp, 3 Jacques van Rooyen, 2 Joe van Zyl, 1 Lizo Gqoboka. Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Simphiwe Matanzima, 18 Mornay Smith, 19 Janko Swanepoel, 20 Jacques du Plessis, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Stedman Gans.