Springbok captain Jean de Villiers will lead the DHL Stormers into battle in their second pre-season friendly of 2013, when the men from the Cape take on neighbours, the Regent Boland Cavaliers, at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday (14:45).
As promised, DHL Stormers coach Allister Coetzee has mixed up his selection this week – from last Saturday against the Cheetahs – with De Villiers, Deon Fourie and Andries Bekker all coming into the line-up.
In the absence of Juan de Jongh (hamstring), De Villiers will slot in alongside rookie Damian de Allende, whilst Bekker will form an imposing all-Springbok second row alongside Eben Etzebeth and Fourie will be propped up by Pat Cilliers and Steven Kitshoff in the front row.
Duane Vermeulen, who captained the team in Bloemfontein last weekend and will be vice-captain this week, will continue at No.8 but he will have new flanks in the shape of Rynhardt Elstadt and Siya Kolisi, with Don Armand and Nizaam Carr starting on an enlarged bench.
There will be 11 players on the bench this week, with Brok Harris, Nic Groom and Joe Pietersen all in line to make their first appearances of 2013 after not travelling to Bloemfontein.
Both Groom and Louis Schreuder – the scrumhalves in the 2012 Currie Cup Final – will start from the bench, with Dewaldt Duvenage, who continues to make his way back to full fitness after suffering a leg injury last year, starting at No.9.
* The Regent Boland Cavaliers will host the DHL Stormers in a pre-season friendly at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, February 9 at 14h45. A curtain-raiser will take place between a Boland Invitational XV and a DHL WP Vodacom Cup XV at 12:30.
Tickets are priced at R50 and R75 and are available at Computicket, Shoprite and Shoprite Checkers. No tickets will be sold at the stadium on the day.
** Saturday’s match will be televised live on SuperSport. The DHL Stormers will start their 2013 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign against the Bulls on Friday, February 22.
The DHL Stormers team to take on the Regent Boland Cavaliers is as follows:
15. Jaco Taute
14. Gio Aplon
13. Jean de Villiers (captain)
12. Damian de Allende
11. Bryan Habana
10. Kurt Coleman
9. Dewaldt Duvenage
8. Duane Vermeulen (vice-captain)
7. Rynhardt Elstadt
6. Siya Kolisi
5. Andries Bekker
4. Eben Etzebeth
3. Pat Cilliers
2. Deon Fourie
1. Steven Kitshoff
Replacements (from):
16. Martin Bezuidenhout
17. Frans Malherbe
18. Brok Harris
19. De Kock Steenkamp
20. Don Armand
21. Nizaam Carr
22. Nic Groom
23. Louis Schreuder
24. Pat Howard
25. Gerhard van den Heever
26. Joe Pietersen
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
This is in my opinion, the strongest team that they could play, given the players available to them. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this is the starting 15 to play against the Bulls, with perhaps only Elton Jantjies to come in at 10, although AC did say that only players who have had game time in the 2 warm-up matches will play in the opener, which technically would rule Elton out.
@ Stormersboy:
Think he exempted Jantjies and “Popgun” Grant from that ruling. AC is to kak bang to tackle the Bulls without Jantjies.
@ Cheetah4eva:
I hope so, it would certainly be the prudent thing to do.
When I asked Alistair about it, he spoke about not wanting to send someone into a match situation if the are at all undercooked and not ready.
I think he was talking about injuries more than “family leave” as you say. He did specifically refer to Grant though and said that he had no idea what condition Peter would be in when he arrived.
9 & 10 the weakpoints, Duvengae did not have agreat season last year before his injury and Coleman is medium to rare
Wonder if Gary van Aswegen will ever be fit enough to play a few games in a row, he showed potential
@ Gena_ZA:
I agree with you, Dewald is a very experienced player but you just get the feeling that he doesn’t clear the rucks quickly enough and takes too much of the ball for himself. A lot of that is game plan stuff though. Groom is the opposite of that and with Groom and Elton as a combo the sparks may just fly.
@ Stormersboy:
Hi M, Good to see you stop the laziness and ur doing articles too 😆
A full strength Boland only managed to beat Durbanville by 3 points 2 Fridays ago, so don’t get too excited about this.
@ Stormersboy:
100% agreed on a Groom and Jantjies halfback pairing. both are thinkers with Groom being the fastest scrummie in the Stormers setup.
i can take a walk to the toilets behind grandstand, take a leak, walk back and Duvenhage still wouldn’t have cleared the ruck.
@ Sharks_forever:
Well I was concerned that the place was starting to resemble Sharksworld…….
@ fayaaz: I was really hoping the Schreuder would have come through quicker than he has. He showed incredible potential at u21 level, and I was expecting him to be the 1st choice by now, but Groom seems sharper, although he is smaller than Louis who brings a certain physicality and a massive boot to the party.
@ Stormersboy:
TBH, I think Louis Schreuder cant really cut it at Super level. he is about average during Currie Cup and is always slow to release the ball from the ruck – especially if there is momentum and clear holes for the 10 and 12 to cut through. either that or he kicks possession away
In any case – Groom is the best of them IMO
Any word fellas on how long Liebenberg will be out of action – a big fantasy points scorer last year?
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