Schickerling, Viljoen back for DHL WP U21
Star lock JD Schickerling and backline ace EW Viljoen have been named in the DHL Western Province Under-21 starting line-up for Saturday’s match-up with the Blue Bulls Under-21s at Loftus Versfeld (kick-off 14h45).
Schickerling has been out of action for a few weeks with a groin injury, but Viljoen – an SA Schools teammate in 2013 – will make his first appearance in the DHL WP Under-21 team this year after picking up a knee injury during pre-season action.
“JD is back from injury which is great and Jan Uys also has a niggle, so we are going to try and reduce his workload a bit,” WP Under-21 coach John Dobson told wprugby.com.
“It’s still only the halfway through the competition and we must look after these youngsters, but this game is very important in our quest for that home play-off (spot).
“All told, we are quite excited about some tweaks to our team. We are excited about both EW Viljoen and WJ Strydom, both of whom are promising backs, with EW starting and WJ on the bench.
“Unfortunately both (hooker) Chad Solomon and (wing) Lihleli Xoli had academic commitments, which we take very seriously, but we are expecting Justin Geduld to have settled into 15s (even more this week) and enjoy a surface like Loftus.
“We were also keen to give Carel du Preez a start (at flank) and Jacques Vermeulen has had a lot of rugby this season and is carrying a minor shoulder injury. Were it a final we could have played Vermeulen, but we still hope to be in one and want him there.”
The Province Under-21s are the only unbeaten team in the competition and currently top the Absa Provincial Under-21 log with 28 points from six matches – three log positions and eight log points ahead of their hosts on Saturday.
“Although we scored 50 points against the Lions we were unhappy with a few elements of our performance, especially on defence and conceding five tries, those last two in the last three minutes handing the Lions a losing bonus point,” said Dobson.
“We also handed the Bulls a last-minute (losing) bonus point the week before, so I would like us to be less like an NGO and a bit stingier.”
The DHL WP U21s and the Bulls U21s have had some memorable clashes in recent seasons – the teams having met in the finals at this level in 2010, 2012 and 2013.
Dobson concluded: “We are really looking forward to this game. We like playing at Loftus, we like the space and speed of the game up there and have quite a good record (up) there.
“It does seem odd to be playing our fiercest rival again within two weeks, so I suppose that has made our workload easier but at our level the Bulls away is about the hardest game on any fixture list.”
The DHL WP Under-21 team for Saturday (v Bulls, away) is as follows:
15. Justin Geduld
14. EW Viljoen
13. Johnny Kotze
12. Kyle Lombard
11. JP Lewis
10. Robert du Preez
9. Jean Nel
8. Sikhumbuzo Notshe
7. Carel du Preez
6. Eital Bredenkamp (captain)
5. JD Schickerling
4. Jurie van Vuuren
3. Deacon Chowles
2. Michael Willemse
1. Sti Sithole
Replacements:
16. Michael Kennedy
17. John Meyer
18. Jan Uys
19. Jacques Vermeulen
20. Tapiwa Tsomondo
21. Jason Marcus
22. WJ Strydom
Referee: Jaco Kotze
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