Juan could add Midas touch for Stormers
THE inclusion of Springbok centre Juan de Jongh in the Stormers side to take on the British & Irish Lions in the tourists’ final warm-up match tomorrow before their threeTest series against the Springboks certainly adds more spice to the fixture.
De Jongh, who spent four years with English Premiership side Wasps, has been training with Western Province for the last two weeks and adds some serious experience and excitement to a team that suffered a narrow defeat against Griquas in their last Currie Cup outing.
But now they will be playing as the Stormers, and while Dobson & Co will be hoping the name the team will be playing under won’t be the only thing different from when they last ran out at Cape Town Stadium, Lions coach Warren Gatland will also be looking for improvement after the SA A team beat his side 17-13 on Wednesday evening.
The Stormers face the tourists in their last game before the three-Test series against the Boks (6pm kickoff).
Overall, the Stormers are going into tomorrow’s match with a strong team – as strong as they can considering the large contingent of players they have in the Bok camp – with former Junior Springbok and SA Schools captain Ernst van Rhyn leading the side. He will partner up in the second row with JD Schickerling, while in the front row Neethling Fouche, JJ Kotze and Leon Lyons will pack down.
In the loose trio, Nama Xaba and Johan du Toit will start on the flanks, with Evan Roos filling out the loose trio at No 8.
Godlen Masimla and Tim Swiel form the halfback pairing, with Dan du Plessis and Rikus Pretorius in midfield.
Out back, Seabelo Senatla, Edwill van der Merwe and Sergeal Petersen form an exciting back three.
On the bench, De Jongh is in line to earn his 98th Stormers cap when he takes to the field.
Stormers coach John Dobson said that his team is well-aware of the honour of having the opportunity to face the British & Irish Lions.
“Any match against the British & Irish Lions is a historic occasion and we will be doing everything we can to do justice to the magnitude of this game,” Dobson said.
“The team has been highly disciplined in our bubble this week and now it is about doing everything we can on the field for 80 minutes.”
Meanwhile, Gatland has named an entirely different starting line-up to the one that suffered a 17-13 defeat against the SA A side for Saturday’s match against the Stormers.
STORMERS
Starting XV: 15 Sergeal Petersen, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Rikus Pretorius, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Johan du Toit, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (capt), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Leon Lyons
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Thomas Bursey, 22 Abner van Reenen, 23 Juan de Jongh, 24 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 25 Niel Otto, 26 Leolin Zas, 27 Cornel Smit