Cape Town - Centre Juan de Jongh will play his 100th game for the Stormers when they face Edinburgh in Round 3 of the United Rugby Championship at the DAM Health Stadium on Saturday.
The team features six changes from the one that lost 34-18 to Munster last weekend, with five in the backline and one in the pack.
De Jongh will partner Rikus Pretorius in midfield. The 33-year-old made his Stormers debut in 2010. After recently returning to the Cape after plying his trade with Wasps in England, the Springbok centre will join the likes of Sita Kolisi, Steven Kitshoff, Schalk Burger, Frans Malherbe, Jean de Villiers, Peter Grant and Andries Bekker in the Stormers’ centurion club.
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The other back line changes see Edwill van der Merwe coming in on the wing, while Tim Swiel and Paul de Wet form a new halfback pairing.
Up front, Ernst van Rhyn comes in at lock in the only change to the pack, while prop Kwenzo Blose, hooker JJ Kotze and lock Justin Basson are all set to make their first appearances of the Stormers’ URC campaign from the bench.
In De Jongh’s 100th appearance, Stormers head coach John Dobson said: "Juan will be remembered as a legend of Stormers and Western Province rugby. His contribution since coming back earlier this year has been invaluable and I know the team are determined to give him a performance to celebrate on Saturday.”
Dobson added that it will take an 80-minute performance to get the result in Edinburgh on Saturday.
"We have shown glimpses of what we are capable of already on this tour and the challenge now is to sustain that intensity throughout the match.
"It has been another week of hard work and we are excited to see what this team can do out there on Saturday," he said.
Saturday's clash kicks off at 18:15 (SA time).
Stormers team
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Salmaan Moerat, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Brok Harris
Substitutes: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Dan du Plessis.
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