Hooker Bongi Mbonambi is in doubt for DHL Western Province's 2015 Absa Currie Cup opener against Griquas in Kimberley this Friday.

Mbonambi has a hamstring niggle and has been rated a 50-50 chance of taking his place in the team for Friday (kick-off 15h30).

SWD Eagles hooker Marius Fourie has joined the squad, to bolster DHL WP”s hooking resources, whilst Sir Lowrians” Charlie van Jaarsveld, who featured for the Vodacom Cup team earlier this season, is also back in the selection mix.

DHL Western Province Under-21 hooker Chad Solomon picked up a slight neck injury against the Lions at the weekend and will not be considered for the senior team this week as he cannot train until Thursday.

The full DHL Western Province injury report (03/08/15):

– Hooker Bongi Mbonambi (hamstring) has a 50-50 chance of playing against Griquas.
– Backs Dillyn Leyds and Johnny Kotze – both of whom had niggles during pre-season – are fit and will come into selection contention against Griquas.

QUOTES FROM DHL WP HEAD casino online COACH JOHN DOBSON:

On the team”s mini-crisis at hooker:

“Since Super Rugby we have lost Scarra Ntubeni (who is with the Springboks at present) and Michael Willemse (who is injured) and then Neil Rautenbach is with the Cheetahs.

“Bongi, as I said, is in doubt, he”s 50-50, and you throw in Chad (Solomon) who cannot train until Thursday (with a Friday game) and we now have five guys out from since the start of the year.

“That”s why Marius and Charlie are with us at training. It”s a flashpoint at the moment (the crisis at hooker) and we are going to have to do some extra work line-out in a short week.”

On facing Griquas in Kimberley:

“They will be waiting for us – they”re hosting the Absa Currie Cup champions on a Friday afternoon in Kimberley. Also, some of their players have played for us before and would also want to prove a point!

“This isn”t your Griquas team of old. They have a massive kicking game and we”re expecting a bit more kicking from them and to challenge our back three.

“They”re still physical, make no mistake, but there”s less and less of that Cheetahs style, wide game. They will kick more and chase well and we would also need to adapt our kicking game against them.

“Any win will do this week – this is a massive banana skin for us and we would be happy to start our campaign with an away win against this tough Griquas side.”