DHL Western Province have been forced into making a late change on their replacements’ bench for tomorrow’s Absa Currie Cup clash against the Sharks at DHL Newlands.

Prop JC Kritzinger picked up an ankle injury at training earlier this week which is more serious than initially suspected and his place, on the bench, will be filled by Yaya Hartzenberg.

It means that DHL WP will go into the match with a more traditional-looking bench; with two front row replacements in Siyabonga Ntubeni and Brok Harris, youngster Wilhelm van der Sluys covering lock and Hartzenberg providing loose forward cover.

Kritzinger will be out for 12 weeks, which is a blow to DHL WP’s front-row resources ahead of the 2012 Absa Currie Cup season.

But it’s also a big setback on a personal level for Kritzinger who has battled back from two serious knee injuries in the last three seasons which have limited his appearances – for the DHL Stormers and DHL WP – to just 46 matches across all competitions between 2008 and 2011.

Revised DHL Western Province team (vs Sharks):
15. Joe Pietersen
14. Gerhard van den Heever
13. JP du Plessis
12. Marcel Brache
11. Gio Aplon
10. Burton Francis
9. Dewaldt Duvenage
8. Jebb Sinclair
7. Tyrone Holmes
6. Deon Fourie (captain)
5. De Kock Steenkamp
4. Don Armand
3. Frans Malherbe
2. Tiaan Liebenberg
1. Deon Carstens

RESERVES:

16. Siyabonga Ntubeni
17. Brok Harris
18. Wilhelm van der Sluys
19. Yaya Hartzenberg
20. Louis Schreuder
21. Gary van Aswegen
22. Damian de Allende