Five Boks come in for DHL WP

Sep 21 • Currie Cup, General News • 1852 Views • Comments Off on Five Boks come in for DHL WP

DHL Western Province have been boosted by the inclusion of five Springboks for their Currie Cup encounter with Tafel Lager Griquas at DHL Newlands on Saturday.

Bongi Mbonambi, Wilco Louw, Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Damian Willemse have all been released from the Springbok squad and are joined in the starting line-up by a fit-again JJ Engelbrecht as DHL Western Province look for their fourth straight victory of the season in a match that kicks off at 19h30 on Saturday.

Mbonambi and Louw join Ali Vermaak in the front row, with Caylib Oosthuizen, Scarra Ntubeni and Michael Kumbirai on the replacements bench.

Salmaan Moerat partners captain Chris van Zyl in the second row, while Notshe links up with Kobus van Dyk and Juarno Augustus in the loose trio.

There are three changes to the backline, with scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies making his first start of the season, Engelbrecht on the left wing and Willemse at fullback.

Justin Phillips, Dan du Plessis and Dillyn Leyds will provide backline cover.

DHL Western Province Head Coach John Dobson said that his team are looking forward to playing in front of the DHL Newlands Faithful again.

“It is always special playing at DHL Newlands and we feel that we have an exciting team that can deliver some good rugby.

“We have built up some momentum, but there are still many areas we can improve and we want to ensure that we continue on an upwards trajectory as the season unfolds,” he said.

DHL Western Province: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 JJ Engelbrecht, 10 Josh Stander, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Kobus van Dyk, 6 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 5 Chris van Zyl (captain), 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Michael Kumbirai, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Justin Phillips, 21 Dan du Plessis, 22 Dillyn Leyds.