Nazeem Adams, the DHL Western Province Under-19 coach, has announced his team to take on the Golden Lions at DHL Newlands on Saturday (kick-off 14h45).
With the DHL WP U19 side well-placed in second position on the log, coach Adams is looking forward to starting the second half of the 2012 Under-19 provincial season on a high.
The U19s lost just one match in the first half of the season – going down in the last minute away from home – and their coach declared himself happy with proceedings up till now.
“It was important to be within that top two at the halfway mark,” said Adams, “as that determines whether or not you get a home semifinal.
“We’ve also managed a five-point gap between ourselves and the third-placed team, so we will need to build on that over the coming weeks to ensure home-ground advantage.”
Aside from a potential home semifinal, Adams has also been working hard on creating depth in his squad – having made a whole host of changes for last week’s game against the SWD Eagles; DHL WP’s juniors winning 55-11 in wet conditions at City Park.
Said Adams: “The positive to come out of Saturday was that we played with our forwards a lot more; they took charge and they dominated. I was very happy with that.
“As a bonus, we didn’t pick up any injuries and a guy like Johnny Kotze came through his comeback game (his first match in four months) well.
“We gave everyone an opportunity at some point during the first half of the season, which has also been a massive boon, and hopefully it will serve us well in the remaining weeks.”
The DHL Western Province Under-19 team to take on the Lions is as follows:
15. Cheslin Kolbe
14. Werner Kok
13. Justin Geduld
12. Janco Gunther
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. Christiaan Benade
3. Entienne Swanepoel
2. Freddie Kirsten (captain)
1. Sti Sithole
RESERVES:
16. Brainton Booysen
17. Niel Oelofse
18. Deacon Chowles
19. Sebastian Ferreira
20. Nicholai Lubbe
21. Bjorn Bernardo
22. Johnny Kotze
23. Selom Gavor
Referee: Gerrie de Bruin
