Veteran prop Brok Harris will captain a rejigged DHL Stormers 23 against Cardiff on Friday, which will see him bring up 400 senior professional caps.
The Capetonians end their four-match Vodacom URC tour to Europe at Arms Park and Harris, who has 135 Stormers caps, to go with over 100 for Western Province and Welsh club Dragons, will go level with Steven Kitshoff as the most-capped player in the franchise’s history.
Harris leads a lineup which features a host of changes as the Stormers look to end their tour on a high. He is joined in the front row by tighthead Lee-Marvin Mazibuko and hooker Andre-Hugo Venter.
Adre Smith starts in the second row alongside Ruben van Heerden, while flankers Nama Xaba and Willie Engelbrecht will pack down either side of the scrum with No 8 Marcel Theunissen.
Scrumhalf Stefan Ungerer makes his first start of the season, with Courtnall Skosan on the right wing and Clayton Blommetjies at fullback in the only other changes to the backline.
The bench features hooker Scarra Ntubeni and lock Connor Evans, who were not part of the matchday squad last week, while utility forward Hendre Stassen is set to make his Stormers debut.
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Head coach John Dobson said that his team is determined to end their tour on a high: “We are really excited to see how the players coming in go this week. It has been a long tour and this is a crucial game for us.
“There have been some injury disruptions to the squad with the likes of Gary Porter, Joseph Dweba, Evan Roos, Ben-Jason Dixon and Angelo Davids all unavailable for this match, but this team will be going all-out to get the win.
“We know that we face a big challenge at Cardiff Arms Park, but it is one we are looking forward to taking on,” he added.
Stormers – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Ben Loader, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Brok Harris (c).
Subs: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Hendre Stassen, 21 Keke Morabe, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Warrick Gelant.
Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix
