DHL WP unchanged for Cheetahs at home

Aug 13 • General News • 1450 Views • Comments Off on DHL WP unchanged for Cheetahs at home

DHL Western Province head coach John Dobson has named an unchanged starting line-up for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup clash against the Free State Cheetahs at DHL Newlands (kick-off 15h00).

Dobson has rightly kept faith with the starting line-up that did duty against Griquas last weekend, but lock Jan de Klerk and back Kobus van Wyk come on to the bench against the Cheetahs.

De Klerk replaces Chris van Zyl in a rotational switch, whilst Van Wyk comes in for Johnny Kotze who took a bang to his head at training on Monday.

Dobson told the www.wprugby.com website: “We have a plan, in terms of game time for certain players moving forward. But, at the same time, we need some continuity in our team and (our) performances, so we have retained the same starting line-up from last week with just those two changes on the bench.

“I said after last week’s Griquas game that we need to make an improvement and we have worked on those issues – most notably our discipline – during the week and we hope to put that in place against the Cheetahs.

“Forget the Cheetahs’ loss to the Bulls (last week) – it was a freakish game in many way. The Cheetahs are always a tough team and they’re always up for playing against Province at DHL Newlands – it tends to raise their game in a way too.”

Dobson will be in charge of the senior DHL Western Province Absa Currie Cup team at their DHL Newlands home for the first time in his coaching career and he is looking forward to the experience this weekend.

“For me, having grown up in the Cape, it truly is a big honour to be coaching the senior Absa Currie Cup team at this historic ground of ours,” he said.

“However, I am particularly excited about feeling the full force of the DHL Newlands Faithful behind us. As coaches, especially as a new coaching unit, we know the responsibilities that go with coaching at this union – and coaching at DHL Newlands – and we would love to open our 2015 home campaign on a high.”

* Saturday’s action between DHL Western Province and the Cheetahs gets underway at 10h45, starting with Absa Provincial Under-19 action. The DHL WP U21s and Cheetahs will lock horns in the Absa Provincial Under-21 competition at 12h45, before the main game gets underway at 15h00.

Match tickets, priced between R40 (for standing) and R60-R100 (for seats), can still be purchased – either online, at http://wprugby.computicket.com, or from Computicket outlets and Shoprite & Checkers stores nationwide.

The DHL Western Province team for Saturday (v FS Cheetahs, home) is as follows:

15. Cheslin Kolbe
14. Dillyn Leyds
13. Juan de Jongh (captain)
12. Jaco Taute
11. Seabelo Senatla
10. Demetri Catrakilis
9. Nic Groom
8. Nizaam Carr (vice-captain)
7. Sikhumbuzo Notshe
6. Rynhardt Elstadt
5. Ruan Botha
4. Jean Kleyn
3. Wilco Louw
2. Bongi Mbonambi
1. Oli Kebble
Replacements:
16. Marius Fourie
17. Alistair Vermaak
18. Jan de Klerk (On Absa Currie Cup debut for DHL WP)
19. Chris Cloete
20. Jano Vermaak
21. Kurt Coleman
22. Kobus van Wyk
Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs, Rodney Boneparte
TMO: Willie Vos