DHL Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has made just one change to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup meeting with the Vodacom Blue Bulls at DHL Newlands (kick-off 14:05 SA Time).

The only change to the DHL WP line-up sees Stephan Coetzee named in the No.2 jersey, in his first start at this level, with the injured Tiaan Liebenberg (back) dropping out this week.

Fellow hooker Scarra 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.
Coetzee told www.wprugby.com: “Selection was incredibly tough this week, but, thankfully (and mostly), for all the good reasons!”

“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 Absa 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.

“What happened last week matters for nothing, for both us and the Bulls,” said Coetzee.

“There is no such thing as a weak Blue Bulls side and you only have to think back to last year’s Absa Currie Cup encounter between our two teams when a young Bulls team was a conversion away from beating us.”

“We’re preparing for a tough encounter against the Bulls, as always, and we’re certainly determined to give a good account of ourselves in front of our home fans at DHL Newlands.”

DHL WP: 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 (Vice-captain), 2 Stephan Coetzee, 1 Alistair Vermaak
Replacements: 16 Neil Rautenbach (On debut), 17 Brok Harris, 18 Ruan Botha, 19 Rynhardt Elstadt, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Jaco Taute.

Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
Assistant Referees: Marius van der Westhuizen, Quinton Immelman
TMO: Jason Jaftha