Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Western Province coach John Dobson has opted for continuity in his starting line-up for Saturday’s Currie Cup clash against the Free State Cheetahs at Newlands, meaning Springbok scrumhalf Jano Vermaak must be content with a place on the bench once more.
Dobson has opted for Nic Groom at No 9 again, but he acknowledged on Thursday that Vermaak was too pedigreed to be ignored.
“We’ve got a really good Springbok on the bench and he has to play sometime but at the moment he’s finding his feet in our system a bit,” said Dobson.
“I had a one-on-one with him this week and he knows he’ll get his chance but at this stage his attitude is impeccable.
“He’s saying ‘I’m pleased to be part of it, if I can make a difference of the bench I’m happy with that,’ but at some stage he has to get a start.”
Dobson has two other scrumhalves in Louis Schreuder and Godlin Masimla to consider and selection around the position remained a ‘headache’ for the WP boss.
“It’s a headache because we’ve still got Louis Schreuder and Godlin Masimla ... and Godlin must get an opportunity at some stage and Louis is a Super Rugby and a Springbok tourist so it is a challenge,” he said.
Dobson added that he was not reading too much into the Free State’s 57-19 loss to the Blue Bulls last weekend.
“It was one of those aberration games where as a coach you dream of and everything just goes your way. I think the Bulls made 11 errors and a game day error count is usually about 20-odd ... they just didn’t make any errors and Free State made 30,” Dobson said.
“They’re not as bad as that ... that result was a complete aberration and they started like a house on fire and ran the Bulls of their feet. If they didn’t make those errors I think they could have done something there so I’m not reading too much into it.”
Kick-off on Saturday is at 15:00.
Teams:
Western Province
15 Cheslin Kolbe, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Ruan Botha, 4 Jean Kleyn, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oli Kebble
Substitutes: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Alistair Vermaak, 18 Jan de Klerk, 19 Chris Cloete, 20 Jano Vermaak, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Kobus van Wyk
Free State Cheetahs
15 AJ Coertzen, 14 Clayton Blommetjies, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Fred Zeilinga, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Henco Venter, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Francois Uys (captain), 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jacques du Toit, 1 Caylib Oosthuizen
Substitutes: 16 Elandre Huggett, 17 Maks van Dyk, 18 Reniel Hugo, 19 Gerhard Olivier, 20 Zee Mkabela, 21 Tertius Kruger, 22 Sias Ebersohn
