Stormers rush their Boks back
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: ‘Stormers coach Robbie Fleck rushed back most of his big-name stars for final Super Rugby pre-season outing.
The Stormers face Boland in Wellington on Friday.
There are nine Springboks in the extended match-day squad for the Stormers’ third warm-up game.
Up front props Frans Malherbe and Steven Kitshoff will start either side of hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi – with Corne Fourie, Wilco Louw and Chad Solomon on the replacements bench.
In the second row John Schickerling will link up with Cobus Wiese, while Chris van Zyl is among the replacements.
The loose trio will see captain Siyamthanda Kolisi start alongside Pieter-Steph du Toit and No.8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe – with Jaco Coetzee, Kobus van Dyk and Juarno Augustus set to make an impact in the second half.
Justin Phillips and Damian Willemse will make up the halfback partnership, while Herschel Jantjies, Jean-Luc du Plessis and Josh Stander will be on the replacements bench.
Damian de Allende and Ruhan Nel will play in midfield, with Dan du Plessis and Dan Kriel the centres among the replacements.
At the back Craig Barry starts at fullback with Johannes Engelbrecht and Sarel Marais on the wings.
Fleck said that his players are looking forward to putting the final touches on their preparations for the 2019 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign.
“Boland are always highly motivated to play us in Wellington, so we are looking forward to pushing ourselves,” Fleck said.
“We have got a number of players coming in after a pre-season conditioning phase, so it will be important for us to gel as a unit and get as much as we possibly can out of this game,” he said.
Stormers: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Johannes Engelbrecht , 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Sarel Marais, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 John Schickerling, 4 Cobus Wiese, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Juarno Augustus, 22 Kobus van Dyk, 23 Herschel Jantjies, 24 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 25 Joshua Stander, 26 Dan du Plessis, 27 Dan Kriel, 28 Nico Leonard.
Date: Friday, February 8
Venue: Boland Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 17.45 (15.45 GMT)
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
