A much-changed DHL Western Province Under-21 team will travel to East London take on Border in Absa Provincial Under-21 action on Friday night (kick-off 18h00).
Just four starting players remain from Province’s impressive 47-15 win over the Sharks Under-21 team two weeks ago, with coach John Dobson ringing the changes due to senior team call-ups, injuries and rotation.
Lock Jean Kleyn, loose forward Sikhumbuzo Notshe and flyhalf Robert du Preez are all on Absa Currie Cup duty this weekend, with Sebastian Ferreira, Tapiwa Tsomondo and Chris Smith earning starts for the unbeaten U21 side in their absence.
In other notable team changes this week, hard-working flanker Jacques Vermeulen gets a well-deserved week off, after his recent heavy workload – including the IRB Junior World Championships in NZ, but DHL Stormers prop Sti Sithole is out with a finger injury.
Dobson told www.wprugby.com: “With the utmost respect to Border, I had intended to make a few changes for this game to help build our depth. That said, I didn’t quite envisage as many changes as this, but I’m happy with the group we have at our disposal for this match.”
Captain – and flank – Eital Bredenkamp, lock JD Schickerling, centre Kyle Lombard and wing JP Lewis are the only starting survivors from the Sharks clash, but the team has been boosted by the return, from injury, of left-wing Lihleli Xoli, hooker Michael Willemse and replacement lock Jan Uys.
Willemse and Uys will make their first appearances of 2014 for the WP Under-21s, as will SA Sevens star Justin Geduld who has been named at fullback after playing his part in South Africa’s recent Commonwealth Games triumph.
“Ideally, I would’ve liked to have (also) given JD Schickerling the week off, but he’s still growing into his role of calling the line-outs, so he needed another game ahead of our big one against the Bulls next weekend. But the return of (fellow lock) Jan Uys is pleasing and so, too, the return of (hooker) Mikey Willemse.
“Justin Geduld’s selection at fullback is also an exciting one as we look to keep up the momentum gained with our win over the Sharks, which seems like ages ago now after a welcome week off!
“Although some people might consider Border to be one of the easier games of the season, we are not taking them lightly at all. It’s an away game and we all know about the notorious East London wind, not to mention an opposition team dearly wanting to claim a big scalp at home.”
The DHL WP Under-21 team for Friday (v Border) is as follows:
15. Justin Geduld
14. JP Lewis
13. Kyle Lombard
12. Janco Gunter
11. Lihleli Xoli
10. Chris Smith
9. Jason Marcus
8. Carel du Preez
7. Tapiwa Tsomondo
6. Eital Bredenkamp (captain)
5. JD Schickerling
4. Sebastian Ferreira
3. Deacon Chowles
2. Michael Willemse
1. Wesley Adonis
Replacements:
16. Chad Solomon
17. Neil Oelofse
18. Liam Hendricks
19. Jan Uys
20. SP Ferreira
21. Johnny Kotze
22. Dalen Goliath
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
