Province will really want to improve
WESTERN Province head coach John Dobson has made four changes to the startling line-up to face the Lions in a Currie Cup clash at Ellis Park today (7pm kickoff).
Two of those changes are in the backline, where Tim Swiel comes in at fullback, with Sergeal Petersen moving to the wing in place of the injured Sihle Njezula. In the other backline change, Godlen Masimla starts at scrumhalf with Paul de Wet moving to the bench.
Up front, No 8 Juarno Augustus and openside flank Marcel Theunissen come into the loose trio with Evan Roos moving to the side of the scrum.
Hooker Jason Alexander and flank De Wet Marais are in line to make their senior Province debuts from the bench.
While the Capetonians ran in seven tries at Loftus and completely dominated the set-pieces, the fact that it was an extremely green Blue Bulls team at Loftus – as their first-rankers played in the Rainbow Cup final against Benetton on the same day – will surely make the result a less pleasing one for WP. Also, while the visitors were also without their Boks, it wouldn't have been unreasonable to have expected more stand-out performances against a side where only two players in the matchday squad had Currie Cup experience.
Sure, securing a 48-24 win is seldom a negative but WP will no doubt feel they could have done much more. And knowing that they will go up against a more experienced outfit today, one that will be eager to make a statement considering they are preparing for their match against the British & Irish Lions which is scheduled for next week at Ellis Park.
Then there is also the fact that the Lions were completely embarrassed by the Pumas in their Currie Cup meeting last week. So, both teams will want to make a big step up today, albeit for different reasons. Following their thumping of the Bulls in their opener at the weekend, Dobson said that “everything will have to go better” against the Lions. Yesterday, he reiterated that accuracy will be key.
“We know that we will need to raise our standards in order to make it two wins away from home on the Highveld,” he said. “The players coming in all bring valuable experience and we will need that in order to get the result we are after.”
Western Province: 15 Tim Swiel, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Rikus Pretorius, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Abner van Reenen, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Evan Roos, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 David Meihuizen, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Ali Vermaak Replacements (from): 16 Jason Alexander, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Justin Basson, 20 De Wet Marais, 21 Johan du Toit, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Cornel Smit, 24 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 25 Hacjivah Dayimani, 26 Niel Otto