Willie Britz

Willie Britz will lead the Cheetah when they tackle the Stormers in a Super Rugby pre-season outing at Newlands on Friday (today).

Britz, recruited from the Lions in the off-season, takes over from Francois Uys – who was captain in the 13 / 30 loss to the Bulls last week – as the Cheetahs continue to rotate team leaders during the build-up to their season opener against the Sharks on 14 February.

The permanent Cheetahs captain for the 2015 Super Rugby competition will only be announced early February.

It is expected that Heinrich Brüssow will get the job once he returns from his Japanese club commitments.

The team that travels to Newlands shows 13 changes from that which lost to the Bulls in Polokwane.

Only loose forwards Britz and Jean Cook retained their places in the starting 15.

Springbok Teboho Mohoje rounds off the loose trio, with Carl Wegner and Armandt Koster at lock, while Ewald van der Westhuizen, Martin Bezuidenhout and Caylib Oosthuizen make up the new front row.

First-choice flyhalf Joe Pietersen picked up a niggle last week and his place at No 10 has been taken by young Willie du Plessis, in a completely revamped backline.

Clayton Blommetjies is at fullback, Cornal Hendricks starts on the right wing in place of fellow Bok flyer Raymond Rhule, JP (Phillipus) du Plessis and Michael van der Spuy are in the centres, while Danie Dames replaces the injured South African Under 20 wing Sergeal Pietersen – who will be sidelined for 6 to 8 weeks, after he fractured his jaw in the Polokwane game.

The final backline change sees Tian Meyer at scrumhalf for Sarel Pretorius.

It was confirmed that hooker Nicolaas van Dyk, who was stretchered off in Polokwane, will be out for 2 weeks. The neck injury doesn’t seem to be too serious and it appears that Van Dyk can be considered for the first game of the season.

Seasoned Springboks Willie le Roux and Coenie Oosthuizen, as well as Bok lock Lodewyk de Jager will all play off the bench.

Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Phillipus du Plessis, 12 Michael van der Spuy, 11 Danie Dames, 10 Willie du Plessis, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Willie Britz (Captain), 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Jean Cook, 5 Carl Wegner, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Ewald van der Westhuizen, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen
Replacements – from: Stephan Coetzee, Danie Mienie, Coenie Oosthuizen, Francois Uys, Lodewyk de Jager, Tienie Burger, Shaun Venter, Francois Brummer, Francois Venter, Raymond Rhule, Willie le Roux.

Date: Friday 30 January
Venue: Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-Off: 19:00 SA Time (17:00 GMT)
Referee: Jaco van Heerden

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