Cape Town — Western Province received some firepower among the backline with the return of several senior players for their Currie Cup match against the Griffons on Saturday.
Fullback Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, wingers Angelo Davids and Duncan Saal and Godlen Masimla (scrumhalf) will all start in the game (kickoff 20:30) in the DHL Stadium.
It's a match the home side will have to win to keep track of the top teams in the competition after losing their last two games and sliding down the Currie Cup log.
Province had to depend on club players to keep things going after winning their first two matches away from home with the Stormers calling on some of their players while competing in the Champions Cup and United Rugby Championship.
Labeeb Levy, stand-in head coach, had to shuffle his forwards as well with flanker Junior Pokomela and hooker Andre-Hugo Venter traveling with the Stormers in England.
Springbok hooker Scarra Ntubeni and loose forward Armand Maritz replace them.
"We have some quality players coming back into the fold this week and they all have trained really well," Levy said with the team announcement
"Every game at home is vitally important and our team is desperate to deliver the goods at DHL Stadium on Saturday. We have another player in CPUT prop Matthew Coenraad who has come through the club rugby high-performance program making his debut, which is very exciting,” Levy added.
The Griffons will head to Cape Town with their tails in the air after claiming the scalp of the Bulls recently. WP should definitely not underestimate the team from Welkom even if they are newcomers to the Premier Division.
John Dobson, Stormers and WP head coach, warned that there will be growing pains for the team over the next couple of weeks as the Stormers fight it out in Europe.
But with those backline players returning, they should put up a good display against the Griffons. WP had a lead of 14-0 against Griquas last weekend but failed to keep their performance up in the second half where they lost it.
The Griffons play a power game with their pack of forwards and big centres, but they also possess some elusive runners that will test the WP defence.
Western Province: 15. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14. Duncan Saal, 13. Juan de Jongh (captain), 12. Bruce Sherwood, 11. Angelo Davids, 10. Kade Wolhuter, 9. Godlen Masimla, 8. Keke Morabe, 7. Armand Maritz, 6. Paul de Villiers, 5. Ruben van Heerden, 4. Connor Evans, 3. Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16. Chad Solomon, 17. Lamla Nunu, 18. Matthew Coenraad, 19. Dylan de Leeuw, 20. Jarrod Taylor, 21. Imad Khan, 22. Damian Markus, 23. Tom Nel
IOL Sport