DHL Western Province head coach Allister Coetzee has named his team for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup clash against the Vodacom Blue Bulls at DHL Newlands (19h10).
Coetzee has made seven changes – including one positional switch – to the side that suffered a last-gasp 23-26 loss to the Golden Lions last weekend.
The one positional change sees captain Deon Fourie shift to No.6 flank, as Siyabonga ‘Scarra’ Ntubeni starts at hooker, with DHL WP having been forced to select a new-look loose trio.
With No.8 Duane Vermeulen called up the Springbok squad and flanks Siya Kolisi (thumb – out for the season) and Tyrone Holmes (AC Joint – one week) both out injured, Fourie will be partnered in the back row by fit-again hardman Rynhardt Elstadt (No.7) and Canadian Jebb Sinclair (No.8). In a final change to the pack, Deon Carstens has recovered from a broken nose and he will start at loosehead prop – allowing Steven Kitshoff to take a break on the bench.
In the backline, meanwhile, DHL WP Under-21 star JP du Plessis will start at outside centre, following Juan de Jongh’s Springbok recall. Experienced scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage will make his second start of the Absa Currie Cup season, after two weeks of limited action as part of a rotational policy at scrumhalf, with Nic Groom coming on to the bench this week.
Joining Groom on the bench is Maties flank Helmut Lehmann (the DHL WP Under-21 captain last season), whilst current U21 star Damian de Allende (centre/wing) is back on the bench after featuring as a replacement against GWK Griquas in Round Two.
The DHL Western Province team is as follows:
15. Gio Aplon
14. Gerhard van den Heever
13. JP du Plessis
12. Marcel Brache
11. Ederies Arendse
10. Demetri Catrakilis
9. Dewaldt Duvenage
8. Jebb Sinclair
7. Rynhardt Elstadt
6. Deon Fourie (captain)
5. De Kock Steenkamp
4. Don Armand
3. Frans Malherbe
2. Siyabonga Ntubeni
1. Deon Carstens
Replacements:
16. Steven Kitshoff
17. Brok Harris
18. Wilhelm van der Sluys
19. Helmut Lehmann*
20. Nic Groom
21. Damian de Allende
22. Kurt Coleman
* On Absa Currie Cup debut for DHL Western Province.
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
The full DHL Western Province programme for Saturday, September 1 (DHL Newlands):
14h45 – DHL Western Province Under-19 vs Golden Lions
16h45 – DHL Western Province Under-21 vs Golden Lions
19h10 – DHL Western Province vs Vodacom Blue Bulls (Absa Currie Cup)
This side is very beatable…. all 3 Blue Bulls loosies are better and to me Marcel Brache, Don Armand, Frans Malherbe, Deon Carstens and Siyabonga Ntubeni are average at best.
Young JP du Plessis is a bloody good centre, Shadow has found some form and of course Gio Aplon at the back is always dangerous.
There you have it… I think I’ll go for a Blue Bulls win on SuperBru….
I really do feel for AC, that side has really been decimated. A hiding is on the cards. Don’t know why I said I’d go to the game!
@ Just For Kicks:
Unfortunately for a WP supporter like me, I think you may be right JFK. On the other hand the Bulls have been my jinx team in Superbru, when I predict that they will win, they lose, and vice versa, so going on that logic, if I want WP to win, I should predict that WP should lose
@ Baaiekatte-Jan:Then I shall go for a Bulls win to. With my luck with the CC ‘Bru just as good as yours, perhaps with both us us voting Bulls, they will not only lose, but gift the WP 75 tries to make up for the lack there of for the year so far!!!
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