Gelant starts against Sharks
TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Stormers coach John Dobson has made two changes to the team that will face the Sharks on Saturday at the Cape Town stadium.
Dobson has opted to hand the fullback responsibility to Springbok Warrick Gelant.
The former Bulls back, who has been impressive from the bench, gets a start ahead of Damian Willemse.
The 23-year-old Willemse is one of two backs on the replacements bench this week.
The other change sees Brok Harris moving into the starting XV.
Harris will run out first at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday as he brings up 100 games.
Having made his Stormers debut back in 2007, Harris played 93 Super Rugby games and also brought up a century of Western Province caps, before leaving to join the Dragons in 2015.
Having played over 100 games for the Welsh side, Harris returned to South Africa and got involved as a scrum consultant with the Stormers before being used as injury cover for the United Rugby Championship campaign.
He has played on both sides of the scrum for the Stormers this season and will line up alongside captain Steven Kitshoff and hooker Siyabonga Ntubeni in a front row which boasts almost 300 Stormers caps between them.
Meanwhile, utility forward Ben-Jason Dixon returns from injury and will make his first United Rugby Championship appearance when he takes the field.
Stormers Head Coach John Dobson revealed he is looking forward to seeing the impact that Gelant and Willemse can make at Cape Town Stadium, having switched roles this week.
“Warrick was always going to start this game as per our plan and having someone like Damian on the bench affords us the luxury of an extra forward replacement.
“Both of them are in incredible form and will play vital roles on Saturday.
“After starting the year with two away games, the team is keen to get out there in front of our Faithful supporters at Cape Town Stadium and deliver a worthy performance at home,” he added.
Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Adre Smith, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Damian Willemse.
Date: Saturday, February 5
Venue: Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 17.05 (15.05 GMT)
Referee: AM Jacobs
Assistant Referees: Cwengile Jadezweni, Morne Ferreira
TMO: Marius Jonker
