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Stephen Nell
Cape Town – Springbok centre Jaque Fourie may be out for the season, while Ricky Januarie is expected to keep his place in the Western Province starting line-up for Saturday’s Currie Cup semifinal against Free State at Newlands.
Province assistant coach Matt Proudfoot confirmed to Sport24 on Tuesday that Fourie will be sidelined this week after injuring a big toe in the weekend’s match against the Sharks.
“Jean de Villiers and Juan de Jongh will be the centre combination,” said Proudfoot.
“We don’t want to change much from last week. Ricky will start at scrumhalf. We’d like continuity.”
Proudfoot was unsure about the seriousness of Fourie’s injury.
However, Sport24 understands that WP have already made peace with the reality that Fourie will spend the rest of their campaign on the sidelines.
His availability for the Springboks’ end-of-season tour to Britain and Ireland is apparently also in jeopardy.
Province will therefore have no choice but to rearrange their backline.
De Villiers’s move back to centre after playing wing against the Sharks probably means that Conrad Jantjes will return to the starting line-up.
This could prompt coach Allister Coetzee to move Gio Aplon back to the wing. Coetzee will announce his team on Wednesday.
The changes in the backline should not be disruptive because De Villiers and De Jongh were the centre pairing prior to the return of the contracted Springboks in any event.
Jantjes and Aplon have also played together before.
“It was the luxury that having Juan, Jaque and Jean offered us. If you look at last week’s game you will see that it was only at the scrums and lineouts where they stood at 12, 13 and 14,” said Proudfoot.
“You will see Jean popping up at flyhalf and wing again this week. He scored his try from wing. Jean is world class and it’s wonderful to have him in the side with his leadership and experience.”
Cape Town – Springbok centre Jaque Fourie may be out for the season, while Ricky Januarie is expected to keep his place in the Western Province starting line-up for Saturday’s Currie Cup semifinal against Free State at Newlands.
Province assistant coach Matt Proudfoot confirmed to Sport24 on Tuesday that Fourie will be sidelined this week after injuring a big toe in the weekend’s match against the Sharks.
“Jean de Villiers and Juan de Jongh will be the centre combination,” said Proudfoot.
“We don’t want to change much from last week. Ricky will start at scrumhalf. We’d like continuity.”
Proudfoot was unsure about the seriousness of Fourie’s injury.
However, Sport24 understands that WP have already made peace with the reality that Fourie will spend the rest of their campaign on the sidelines.
His availability for the Springboks’ end-of-season tour to Britain and Ireland is apparently also in jeopardy.
Province will therefore have no choice but to rearrange their backline.
De Villiers’s move back to centre after playing wing against the Sharks probably means that Conrad Jantjes will return to the starting line-up.
This could prompt coach Allister Coetzee to move Gio Aplon back to the wing. Coetzee will announce his team on Wednesday.
The changes in the backline should not be disruptive because De Villiers and De Jongh were the centre pairing prior to the return of the contracted Springboks in any event.
Jantjes and Aplon have also played together before.
“It was the luxury that having Juan, Jaque and Jean offered us. If you look at last week’s game you will see that it was only at the scrums and lineouts where they stood at 12, 13 and 14,” said Proudfoot.
“You will see Jean popping up at flyhalf and wing again this week. He scored his try from wing. Jean is world class and it’s wonderful to have him in the side with his leadership and experience.”
