Cape Town - The experienced Jean-Luc du Plessis will start in the No 10 for Western Province in their Currie Cup clash with the Pumas at Mbombela Stadium (4:30pm kickoff) on Friday.
There are four changes to the backline, and only one in the forwards, as they prepare to take on the defending champions to stay among the top four teams in the domestic competition.
The Pumas are currently flying high after thrashing the Griffons last weekend, while Province will look to bounce back after falling to the Free State Cheetahs in their previous match.
Du Plessis replaces the injured Kade Wolhuter after the young flyhalf, who has been in good form since returning from a knee injury, ruptured ligaments in his other knee at training. He will be out injured for up to nine months.
Cornel Smit will slot in at inside centre where Du Plessis has been performing excellently in a combination with WP captain Juan de Jongh. Stormers wing Suleiman Hartzenberg will jog out on the left wing after being replaced by Angelo Davids in the United Rugby Championship team.
The other changes see a fit-again Godlen Masimla start at scrumhalf and Kwenzo Blose at loosehead prop in the only change among the forwards.
Stormers coach John Dobson said that the trip to Mbombela Stadium will be a good test.
“We have been making steady improvements recently and would like to continue that trend on Friday in what will be a big challenge,” Dobson said.
“The Cheetahs are one of the top teams in this competition and we put ourselves in a position where we should have beaten them last week, so to lose like that was quite frustrating, but there were some positives to take from the first 60 minutes.”
Dobson also added that it's a tough blow for Wolhuter who just started making inroads again after recovering from a knee injury. He has been in good kicking form, he got the WP backline running, and helped guide a young but exciting side even though he is only 21-years-old.
But the experience of Du Plessis, together with Masimla should see the WP backline front up to the challenge that the Pumas will bring.
“While it is a blow to lose a player of Kade’s calibre, we have some experienced players coming in and hopefully that will help lift our game further,” Dobson said.
Dobson’s team can prepare themselves for another big test when it comes to their maul defending as that is one of the Pumas' big weapons on the attack.
They've mauled brilliantly and it was the origin of replacement hooker PJ Jacobs' hat-trick against the Griffons on Sunday. But fullback Devon Williams, a former WP player, and his fellow backs love to run with the ball in hand, so the WP defence will be wary of their counter-attacking abilities, especially if kicks are not accurate enough.
Western Province: 15. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14. Duncan Saal, 13. Juan de Jongh (captain), 12. Cornel Smit, 11. Suleiman Hartzenberg, 10. Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9. Godlen Masimla, 8. Keke Morabe, 7. Jarrod Taylor, 6. Junior Pokomela, 5. Gary Porter, 4. Connor Evans, 3. Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2. Andre-Hugo Venter, 1. Kwenzo Blose
Replacements: 16. Chad Solomon, 17. Leon Lyons, 18. Corne Weilbach, 19. Dylan de Leeuw, 20. Louw Nel, 21. Labib Kannemeyer, 22. Damian Markus, 23. Luke Burger
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