DHL Western Province U21 team to take on the Sharks
Photo by Morgan Piek /Rugby15.
John Dobson, the DHL Western Province Under-21 coach, has announced his team for Saturday afternoon’s semifinal showdown against the Sharks Under-21s in Durban (kick-off 14h05).
Dobson has made ten changes to his starting line-up, from the side that defeated the Border Bulldogs 71-17 last weekend, as the WP Under-21s look to progress to the final.
Most of the changes are predictable, with Dobson having rested a lot of his frontline players against Border, and he has named a powerful line-up to do battle at Mr Price Kings Park in a curtain-raiser to the day’s first Absa Currie Cup semifinal (between the Sharks and the Bulls).
Centre Damian de Allende was, however, a late call-up to the senior DHL WP side, after captain Jean de Villiers suffered a hamstring injury, which – in turn – necessitated a late shuffle in the Under-21 ranks.
“Losing Jean would have been a very big blow to the senior side and it’s had a knock-on effect with us, in turn, losing Damian,” said Dobson, “but, that said, it seemed wrong to have a player of Kobus van Wyk’s quality on the bench. We’re lucky to have a good player, like Kobus, coming in and he certainly deserves to start in a big game like this.
“We are, of course, sorry to have also lost our original captain Wilhelm van der Sluys (also back to the seniors), just as they would have been to lose Andries Bekker.
“But Gerbrandt Grobler has been amazing for us in Wilhelm’s absence at No.5 and with the return of Neil Rautenbach, Slak van Wyk, Josh Katzen and Rayn Smid – all of whom were rested against Border – the pack has been boosted nicely. It’s also great that we have JP du Plessis and Pat Howard in our backline – even without Damian.”
Commenting on the prospect of facing the Sharks – who have beaten WP twice this season – in Durban, Dobson commented: “We’re excited about this game and just hope it will be in better conditions that we have played the Sharks in the last two games. Unfortunately this put our line-out under pressure which had an impact on the results (both times).
“The guys are up for the game and excited at the prospect of facing this good Sharks team in their own backyard in a semi final (match).”
The DHL Western Province Under-21 team to take on the Sharks is as follows:
15. Cheslin Kolbe
14. Dillyn Leyds
13. JP du Plessis
12. Kobus van Wyk
11. Pat Howard
10. Tim Swiel
9. Rick Schroeder (captain)
8. Rayn Smid
7. JP Swanepoel
6. Josh Katzen
5. Gerbrandt Grobler
4. Jean Kleyn
3. Oliver Kebble
2. Neil Rautenbach
1. Francois van Wyk (vice-captain)
RESERVES:
16. Stephan Coetzee
17. Kelvin de Bruyn
18. Jan de Klerk
19. Jody Reyneke
20. Senna Esterhuizen
21. Godlen Masimla
22. Clearance Khumalo
Referee: Ben Crouse
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