Western Province coach John Dobson says he would have liked to give Sikhumbuzo Notshe a starting berth in his 50th appearance for Western province against the Golden Lions on Sunday (kick-off 2.30 pm), but Nizaam Carr’s “outstanding” form gets him the No 8 jersey this weekend.
Notshe, who has featured off the bench since returning from injury, has been named on the bench for this weekend’s Currie Cup action - a game that WP will have to win to keep their hopes of a home semi-final alive.
“I’d like him to run on first for his 50th game, but we see him as a No 8 and when Nizaam came back after Notshe got injured, we looked at the whole season, and he’s been outstanding. He also supports Chris a lot,” Dobson said.
“So it’s tough on Notsh, but the way Neemo is going, it’s difficult. They’re competing for one position at the moment. They’re both attacking, linking players, and we might put ourselves under pressure in other areas if we play both of them together. And it would also be unfair to the one that’s out of position.”
Dobson has made two changes to the backline and two up front for their second-last round-robin game. In the backline, Dewaldt Duvenage starts at scrumhalf in place of the injured Jano Vermaak, while Justin Phillips will add back-up on the bench. And out wide, Ruhan Nel rotates with fellow Sevens speedster Werner Kok on the left wing.
Up front, hooker Bongi Mbonambi returns from Springbok duty to play his first game of the season for Western Province and in the loose trio Kobus van Dyk comes in on the flank. - Wynona Louw
Western Province:
15 Damian Willemse, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Huw Jones, 11 Ruhan Nel, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Cobus Wiese, 6 Kobus van Dyk, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Frans van Wyk, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Substitutes:
16 Ramone Samuels, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Jan de Klerk, 19 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 20 Justin Phillips, 21 Werner Kok, 22 Craig Barry.