DHL Western Province Under-21 coach John Dobson has announced his team to take on the Sharks at Mr Price Kings Park, in Durban, on Friday (kick-off 16h45).
Dobson has made five changes to his team this week, with captain Rick Schroeder and hooker Neil Rautenbach (both on the bench) and tighthead prop Oliver Kebble (altogether) all returning after being rested against the Leopards at DHL Newlands last Saturday.
Other changes see Craig Barry (starting at right-wing) make his return from Sevens duty and WP U19 star Kyle Lombard gets a run at outside centre in place of Pat Howard, who has been called up to the senior DHL WP side once again.
John-Ben ‘Johnny’ Kotze, who came off the bench against the Leopards last weekend, will be joined amongst the replacements by U19 teammate, winger JP Lewis, the latter the leading try-scorer (with eight tries) in the 2012 Provincial Under-19 competition.
“We’re very excited about this game,” said Dobson.
“It should basically decide who gets a home semifinal and whilst Durban is very nice and the water very warm and the surf more consistent, we don’t really want to go back there for a semifinal!
“Our team has settled nicely since we lost to them so narrowly in the mud at Newlands (nearly two months ago),” he added. “That said, tomorrow should be a wet-weather game again, but we have quite some experience of that this season.
“I am thrilled Pat Howard has gone up to the Currie Cup team again,” continued the WP Under-21 coach, “after all – that is our key job – to produce quality players for Western Province. We will miss Pat and Kobus van Wyk, but are every bit as excited to see our U19 centres in Kyle Lombard and Johnny Kotze in action.”
The WP Under-21s led 39-15 against the Leopards last weekend, before running out 39-35 victors and Dobson admitted: “We’ve hopefully addressed this issue of conceding late tries which has plagued us all season. This team is a treat to work with and I know that they will be there or thereabouts tomorrow.”
Dobson’s team boasts a remarkable record away from home this season, having won all four games on the road up till now. They are currently in third place on the log (with 31 points), just two points behind their opponents this weekend (33) and just five adrift of the log-leading Blue Bulls (36), whom they beat in Pretoria two weeks ago.
The DHL Western Province Under-21 team to take on the Sharks is as follows:
15. Dillyn Leyds
14. Craig Barry
13. Kyle Lombard
12. Nick Holton
11. Dean Hammond
10. Tim Swiel
9. Rick Schroeder (captain)
8. Rayn Smid
7. JP Swanepoel
6. Josh Katzen
5. Gerbrandt Grobler
4. Jean Kleyn
3. Oliver Kebble
2. Neil Rautenbach
1. Francois van Wyk (vice-captain)
RESERVES:
16. Stephan Coetzee
17. Kelvin de Bruyn
18. Jan de Klerk
19. Lungelo Chonco
20. Godlen Masimla
21. John-Ben Kotze
22. JP Lewis
Referee: Ben Crouse
