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Holmes returns for WP

Cape Town - Western Province head coach Allister Coetzee has named his team for Saturday's Absa Currie Cup clash against the Sharks in Durban.

Coetzee has made just one injury-enforced change to the starting XV that picked up a valuable 29-22 away win over the Toyota Free State Cheetahs last weekend.

Tyrone Holmes returns in the No 7 jersey, after recovering from a shoulder injury, and he will replace Rynhardt Elstadt who has, in turn, been ruled out for three weeks with a rib injury.

On the bench, meanwhile, Tom Botha replaces Springbok squad member Frans Malherbe as the additional front row replacement and fit-again Joe Pietersen returns to the match day 22 at the expense of youngster Pat Howard.

Botha is a former WP Under-21 star and a member of the Vodacom Cup-winning WP side from earlier this year. He will make his Absa Currie Cup debut should he take to the field. Pietersen, of course, will return to action for the first time since Round One - also against the Sharks - a wrist injury having kept him out.

"This is a good Sharks side - even without their many Springboks. Their pack then (when we lost to them in the first round) was probably weaker than the one now - they've got Bresler back and Daniel too. Really, they're a quality outfit across the board," said Coetzee.

"Also, it's an away game (in Durban), which is another challenge for us, plus we've not beaten the Sharks in the 2012 Absa Currie Cup.

"Every game is important and tough, but we want to start the second round of competition better and we want to continue improving our game."

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Tim Whitehead, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Riaan Viljoen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Keegan Daniel, 7 Jean Deysel (captain), 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Jandre Marais, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Pieter Dixon, 1 Dale Chadwick

Substitutes: 16 Monde Hadebe, 17 Julian Redelinghuys, 18 Peet Marais, 19 Brynard Stander, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Marius Joubert, 22 S'bura Sithole

Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Damian de Allende, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Tyrone Holmes, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Deon Carstens

Substitutes: 6 Steven Kitshoff, 17 Tom Botha, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Helmut Lehmann, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Joe Pietersen
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