Six changes for DHL WP Under-21s

Sep 3 • General News • 1815 Views • Comments Off on Six changes for DHL WP Under-21s

DHL Western Province Under-21 coach Robbie Fleck has made six changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Absa Provincial Under-21 meeting with the Leopards Under-21s at DHL Newlands (14h45).

Three of the changes are enforced, with Fleck – wisely – also opting to rotate some of his players as the table-topping DHL WP U21s look to build on their lead at the summit of the 2015 log after seven rounds of action.

The injury-enforced changes see regular skipper and No.8 Rikus Bothma (groin – two/three weeks), hard-working flanker Christo van der Merwe (concussion) and powerhouse tighthead prop Frans van Wyk (back – two weeks) miss out, with lock Johannes Momsen taking over the leadership reins from Bothma.

Momsen, himself, is back from a slight concussion and he will partner Kobus van Dyk in the second row, with hardman Jacques Vermeulen (No.7) continuing his comeback in his first start of the 2015 Absa Provincial Under-21 season.

In other changes up front, lock David Ribbans – who has carried a big workload in recent weeks – will start amongst the replacements, Wesley Adonis starts at loosehead prop (with Liam Hendricks on the bench) and fit-again hooker Daniel du Plessis will back up Chad Solomon from the bench.

The only change in the backline sees Sibahle Maxwane swap places with Khanyo Ngcukana – who sits on the bench – whilst centre Ryan Oosthuizen is back in the matchday 22, which means that Jarryd Sage will sit out this week.

“Our depth will be tested this week – plus, don’t forget, we’re also without Jean-Luc du Plessis and Dan (du Plessis),” said Fleck to the www.wprugby.com website.

“Yes, we’ve been forced into these additional injury-related changes, but it was always part of the bigger plan at hand to mix things up a bit after six games in a row.

“At the same time the new guys in the (selection) mix have an opportunity to push their own selection claims, which can only be a good thing ahead of our upcoming games against the Sharks (in Durban) and the Bulls (at home).”

The Leopards are in second last place on the Absa Provincial U21 log, whilst they have suffered two big defeats in succession, but Fleck is by no means expecting an easy encounter on Saturday.

Referring to his team’s last-gasp 38-35 win over the Free State U21s last Friday, Fleck admitted: “I wasn’t entirely happy with our defence, mainly our discipline in defence, last week.

“We gave away 16 penalties, which is way too high, and a team like the Leopards will punish us if we do the same. They’re dangerous on turnover ball and love to go wide, so we need to ensure that we don’t give them easy ball and if we get ahead we need to put them away as they’re capable of coming back from the dead – as the Cheetahs did (last week).”

Match tickets are still available for Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup and Absa Provincial Under-19 and Under-21 action at DHL Newlands.

Starting at just R20 for standing room, with seats ranging between R30, R35, R40 and R50, tickets can be bought at Computicket – either online (http://wprugby.computicket.com) or in-store – and also from Shoprite/Checkers stores and the DHL Newlands Box Office.

The DHL WP Under-21 team for Saturday (v Leopards, home) is as follows:

15. Grant Hermanus
14. Sibahle Maxwane
13. EW Viljoen
12. Ryno Eksteen
11. Leolin Zas
10. Brandon Thomson
9. Justin Phillips
8. Devon Nash
7. Jacques Vermeulen
6. Luke Stringer
5. Kobus van Dyk
4. Johannes Momsen (captain)
3. Kyle Whyte
2. Chad Solomon
1. Wesley Adonis

Replacements:
16. Daniel du Plessis
17. Liam Hendricks
18. David Ribbans
19. Luke van der Smit
20. SP Ferreira
21. Ryan Oosthuizen
22. Khanyo Ngcukana
Referee: Rodney Boneparte