WP suffer double injury blow

Western Province will have to set about beating Griquas on Saturday without Robbie Diack.

The in-form No 8 was ill on Tuesday with a severe stomach upset and coach Kobus van der Merwe said that he would not play in the must-win Currie Cup match at Newlands.

"Francois Louw will start at No 8. He has done very well in the last few games in which he has come on," said Van der Merwe.

In a further setback on Tuesday it emerged that fullback Gio Aplon has been ruled out with a hip injury. Joe Pietersen will start at fullback, with Egon Seconds taking over from the injured Zhahier Ryland on the wing.

The composition of the backline could be further influenced if a WP disciplinary committee slaps a ban on Werner Greeff following his sending-off in a club match last week.

Greeff will hopefully be cleared to start at centre inside of Corné Uys. If not, Uys and Sarel Potgieter will continue as the midfield pairing. There were suggestions that the emergency measure would be for Sireli Naqelevuki to move to centre from wing, but that will leave WP short of fire power out wide.

Van der Merwe also revealed that he will field a lock pairing of Selborne Boome and Ross Skeate. "We want to make sure that everybody gets enough game time before the semifinals," he said.

"Justin Melck will be back and we'll bring him on off the bench... Pieter Louw has been playing very good rugby."

Province concentrated on defensive organisation during yesterday's training session and will do so again tomorrow. "It's such a key element and will be important on Saturday. Griquas have strong ball carriers," said Van der Merwe.

Meanwhile, WP hooker Tiaan Liebenberg is expecting a hard time from his former teammates on Saturday.

Liebenberg has played the last two games for WP after being poached midway through the season.

"Griquas are definitely going to give it their all. The fact that I left them will definitely be an issue. They are a very proud team. It's going to be very hard, especially in the first 20 minutes.

"They won't be coming to Cape Town for a holiday," said Liebenberg.

"They are especially strong in the scrums and good with their lineout drives, which we will have to counter."

Liebenberg was in splendid form last week in the 42-36 defeat to the Lions and there's no doubt that WP have invested wisely. Apart from his strong basics, he is exciting with the ball in hand.

"It was difficult for me to learn the game plan in one week before the game against the Falcons. The Lions also don't look to spoil everything. They actually go out to win the game and that makes it easier for me to play against them. The Falcons just try to spoil," said Liebenberg.

"We should have beaten the Lions. We watched the video on Monday and just made so many stupid mistakes.

"It was also an eye-opener in the sense that we should use our opportunities. We scored five tries, but there were other opportunities that we should have used."

JD Moller, meanwhile, is fit to take his place at loosehead prop in place of Schalk Ferreira. The inclusion of their strong man is a significant boost for WP as Griquas are a strong scrumming side.

Van der Merwe also revealed that flyhalf Naas Olivier had had a "good kicking session" on Tuesday morning. Olivier's wayward kicking, coupled with awful defence, led directly to WP's demise against the Lions.

Province now need to beat Griquas to be sure of a place in the semifinals. They can still get a home playoff if the Blue Bulls slip up against the Cheetahs at Loftus this weekend.

Van der Merwe said he had no preference for semifinal opposition. "You have to beat the best teams anyway. Let's forget that for now. We have a hell of a job ahead of us this week."

Possible WP team:

Joe Pietersen, Sireli Naqelevuki, Corné Uys, Werner Greeff, Egon Seconds, Naas Olivier, Bolla Conradie, Francois Louw, Pieter Louw, Luke Watson (captain), Ross Skeate, Selborne Boome, Brock Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, JD Moller.