Head coach John Dobson has bolstered the Western Province lineup with several DHL Stormers stars for Friday’s Currie Cup match against the Pumas in Athlone.
Flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis, lock Connor Evans and centre Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu all come into the starting XV having featured for the defending Vodacom United Rugby Championship winners against Connacht at Cape Town Stadium last week.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu is at inside centre and forms a midfield partnership with Cornel Smit, while Godlen Masimla makes his return from injury at scrumhalf at Athlone Stadium.
Du Plessis will lead the team, while the only other change to the run-on backline sees Tom Nel come in at right wing.
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Evans is one of two changes to the pack, with Chad Solomon coming in to play openside flanker for Junior Pokomela, who has been ruled out through injury.
Dobson said that his team are looking forward to locking horns with the Currie Cup title-holders in ‘new’ surroundings: “It will be fantastic to connect without fans in Athlone for what is a very important game in the context of the season.
“We have some talented players coming back into the mix and we are looking forward to seeing what they can add against a strong Pumas side.”
WP – 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Luke Burger, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Tom Nel, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis (c), 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Chad Solomon, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Subs: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Andre Goedhals, 20 Armand Maritz, 21 Thomas Bursey, 22 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 23 Duncan Saal.
Photo: Nic Bothma/BackpagePix