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Johannesburg - Lionel Cronje’s first Currie Cup start for Western Province could not have been more perfectly timed as the former SA under-21 star has the playing strengths to bring the best out of the trio of backline Springboks who have returned for Saturday’s game against the Leopards.
After three successive defeats, WP desperately need to get back on track after falling away from what was top position on the log one match before the halfway stage of the competition. Coach Allister Coetzee could scarcely contain his delight at being able to announce Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh and Jean de Villiers as members of his starting team for the Newlands match.
“Those are three really talented players that we have returning and they have already made considerable input this week,” said Coetzee.
The selection of scrumhalf Conrad Hoffmann at fullback and Cronje as a flyhalf replacement for Willem de Waal is however the talking point ahead of the Leopards game.
“I always intended to give Lionel a run at this stage of the competition and we gave him a run at fullback for the WP under-21 team last week just to get him up to speed with his decision-making. The good thing for Lionel this week is that he has someone like Jean de Villiers alongside him and he also has great backs outside such as Gio and Juan.”
However Coetzee stopped short of saying that the Cronje move signified a shift in intent from WP, who have been criticised recently for being too reliant on a field kicking game and De Waal’s massive boot.
“People have very short memories unfortunately so they quickly forget the good things that Willem has done for us this season and the role he played in taking us to the top of the log before we came unstuck against the Sharks,” said Coetzee.
“I wouldn’t say we are going to change our plan because Lionel is coming in. This is an opportunity for him to show us what he can do, but I wouldn’t say we are going to throw away Willem. This is just a chance to see what extra options we have along with Willem and Peter Grant (currently on sabbatical in Japan).
“What I will say though is that Lionel does have strengths that fall between those of Willem and Peter. What I would like to see is how he goes when tested on defence. That is one of the most crucial things about this game for him. If he comes through that then he will have shown that he is a good allround player.
“However, there is no intention on our part to change our plan. We don’t change our plan to suit the personnel, we choose the personnel to suit the plan. We are happy with the plan that has got us through so far. We have lost three games in a row, but we are still in second position on the log, which must say something about how we went before that losing sequence set in.”
Hoffmann is off to the Sharks next season but he has impressed with his utility value just recently, and if he comes through in the No15 jersey at the weekend, WP might regret that he is not sticking around. Not that this would be a consideration that would impact on Hoffmann, for one of the reasons he is going to Durban is to get more game-time as a scrumhalf.
“Conrad has a slight injury problem that we are going to assess at the captain’s run on Friday. If he does not come through that, Conrad Jantjes (selected at wing) will go back to fullback, with JJ Engelbrecht coming onto the wing,” said the coach.
WP have had a couple of late injury withdrawals at captain’s runs recently, one of those being Nick Koster, who had to cry off the Lions game at the last minute. Koster is one of the players back in the starting team this week as WP go out to regain the momentum they have lost.
Western Province: Conrad Hoffmann, Conrad Jantjes, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Gio Aplon, Lionel Cronje, Dewaldt Duvenage, Duane Vermeulen, Nick Koster, Francois Louw, Anton van Zyl (captain), Adriaan Fondse, Brok Harris, Deon Fourie, JD Moller.
Reserves: Callie Visagie, JC Kritzinger, Wicus Blaauw, De Kock Steenkamp, Yaya Hartzenberg, Willem de Waal, Paul Bosch.
