Nazeem Adams, the DHL Western Province Under-19 coach, has announced his team to take on the Leopards at DHL Newlands on Saturday morning (kick-off 10h45).
The WP Under-19s are riding high after their thrilling 38-35 bonus-point clinching win over the Blue Bulls in Pretoria last Friday – a result which saw them close the gap (on the selfsame Bulls) to just one point on the Provincial Under-19 standings.
However, coach Adams remains wary of the Leopards – the only side to have beaten his charges this season; by 27 points to 24 in dramatic circumstances in Potchefstroom on August 4.
“We’re looking forward to the game,” said Adams, “but we know it won’t be easy.
“The Leopards are very strong at age-group level, especially at home – as they showed by beating us (in August) and the Lions last weekend. After the Bulls, I would say this is our next toughest game.”
Speaking about the Bulls game, and if he would struggle to keep his team motivated moving ahead, Adams added: “I can promise you one thing – these guys are way too level-headed for that… and like I keep telling them, we’ve not won anything yet.
“They know that the match against the Bulls could’ve gone either way, but, that said, I thought they showed great character to win a tight game which see-sawed at times. I mean, we led 20-3 at one stage in the first half… we trailed by 20-23 at half-time and the lead then changed hands a few times in the second half.”
Adams has been forced into a few changes ahead of the Leopards match, most notably because of powerful centre John-Ben (Johnny) Kotze moving up to the WP Under-21 side and midfield mate Justin Geduld and winger Werner Kok being required by the Emerging Springboks Sevens side – not to mention fullback Cheslin Kolbe being part of the main Sevens mix at present.
In the absence of Kotze and Geduld, Edwin Sass and Kyle Lombard will pair up at centre, with Niel Bester and Lwazi Sithole the new backline faces on the bench.
“We’re missing four of our first-choice backs at the moment, but we’re not about to complain (about that),” said Adams.
“Other teams are missing players too and we’d much rather back the players that we have – all of whom are more than capable of doing the job for us.
“Like I’ve said on countless occasions before, I’m working hard on the depth we have at our disposal and I’m really happy with where we’re at.”
The DHL Western Province Under-19 team to take on the Leopards is as follows:
15. Janco Gunther
14. Selom Gavor
13. Edwin Sass
12. Kyle Lombard
11. JP Lewis (vice-captain)
10. Tommy Allan
9. Jean Nel
8. Justin Benn
7. Jurie van Vuuren
6. Eital Bredenkamp
5. Andrew Becker
4. Tiaan Benade
3. Nicol Heyns
2. Freddie Kirsten (captain)
1. Sti Sithole
RESERVES:
16. Brianton Booysen
17. Niel Oelofse
18. Deacon Chowles
19. Sebastian Ferreira
20. Nicholai Lubbe
21. Bjorn Bernardo
22. Niel Bester
23. Lwazi Sithole
Referee: Joey Salmans
