Ntubeni setback for Province
Comments
0
Allister Coetzee has been forced to rethink his No.2 selection after Tiaan Liebenberg was ruled out on Monday and then Siyabonga Ntubeni, who was injured in Tuesday's training, also not available.
The only change to the WP line-up sees Stephan Coetzee named in the No.2 jersey, in his first start at this level.
Ntubeni suffered an injury setback at training on Tuesday, meaning that UCT Varsity Cup star Neil Rautenbach gets a chance on the bench – on debut – as back-up to Coetzee.
Ntubeni tweaked his calf muscle at training and will be out for a minimum of 14 days.
Whilst coach Coetzee has wisely not tampered too much with his starting team this week, there are plenty of new faces on the bench as Brok Harris, Ruan Botha, Rynhardt Elstadt, Kurt Coleman and Jaco Taute all return.
Prop Harris (shoulder), lock Botha (ankle), flank Elstadt (shoulder) and flyhalf Coleman (knee) are all back from injury, whilst centre/fullback Taute is back from compassionate leave to give the home side a powerful bench with plenty of options.
“Selection was incredibly tough this week, but, thankfully (and mostly), for all the good reasons," Coetzee said.
“Like I said earlier this week, we needed to marry continuity with players coming back and I am comfortable with the selections we have made this week and I have full confidence in each and every player in the team.”
Province opened their 2014 Currie Cup campaign with a bonus-point win against the EP Kings in Port Elizabeth last Friday, whilst the Blue Bulls went down by 13-41 to the Golden Lions in Johannesburg.
Western Province: 15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Manuel Carizza, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Stephan Coetzee, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Ruan Botha, 19 Rynhardt Elstadt, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Jaco Taute.
Date: Saturday, August 16
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 14.00 (12.00 GMT)
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Quinton Immelman
TMO: Jason Jaftha
ADVERTISEMENT
