WP 'sick bay' filling up
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Injuries have contributed to the raft of changes made by Western Province coach John Dobson to his team for their Currie Cup encounter with the Lions at Newlands on Wednesday.
Springbok veteran Juan de Jongh headlines the new entries into the WP sickbay – where he is joined by Rikus Pretorius, Seabelo Senatla and John Schickerling.
They were all injured in the 40-all draw with the Pumas at Newlands this past Sunday.
Senatla (groin) and Schickerling (wrist) are both likely long-term injury lay-offs, while Pretorius suffered a concussion and De Jongh (ankle) could be fit to travel with the team to Kimberley on Saturday for the showdown with Griquas.
Following the short turnaround from their game on Sunday and the injury setbacks, there are four changes to the forward pack and three in the backline for Wednesday’s clash with the Johannesburg team.
Up front, props Dian Bleuler and Neethling Fouche will start on either side of Siyabonga Ntubeni, with Ernst van Rhyn back in the starting line-up to captain the team at lock.
In the loose trio, Deon Fourie starts at openside flank, with Nama Xaba among the replacements, having played for 80 minutes in the previous three matches.
There is a rotation at scrumhalf with Godlen Masimla in the starting XV and Paul de Wet on the replacements bench, while the other two changes to the backline see centre Ruhan Nel and wing Sergeal Petersen both make their return.
Western Province: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 David Meihuizen, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Dian Bleuler.
Replacements – from: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Nama Xaba, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Cornel Smit, 23 Tristan Leyds, 24 Simon Miller, 25 Chris Schreuder.
Date: Wednesday, August 18
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 19.00 (17.00 GMT)
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Local appointments
TMO: Quinton Immelman
