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Steenkamp relishing lead role

Cape Town - Stand-in captain, De Kock Steenkamp says that he is ready to lead Western Province out onto the Loftus Versveld pitch when they take on the Blue Bulls in their Currie Cup clash on Saturday.

He will skipper the blue and white hoops in the absence of regular captain, Deon Fourie, who will miss the clash after sustaining a rib injury.

Steenkamp believes that his experience when it comes to the line-out will help him in leading the team from the front, in what promises to be a physical battle against their traditional rivals from the north.

"When you play at No. 5 (lock), then you have to be able to take responsibility in the line-outs," Steenkamp told WP's official website.

Steenkamp will hope that the pair of Springboks in the form of Gio Aplon and Juan de Jongh will be on hand to provide valuable experience to the team and give him much needed senior support.

"I enjoy the responsibility (of the captaincy) and there are (a few) leaders (within the team) who will support me as the captain."

He is also under no illusions regarding what he thinks the Bulls' strength is and on which area of the game they will be focussed on.

"There is a huge focus on the line-out against the Bulls - both on your own throw-in and when competing with each other's ball.

"We have spent a lot of time on this (the line-out) in the last few weeks and we'll dedicate some more time to it at the Captain's run (on Friday)," concluded Steenkamp.

Kick-off is at 17:05.

Teams:

Blue Bulls:


15 Jürgen Visser, 14 Sampie Mastriet, 13 Ulrich Beyers, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Akona Ndungane, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Rudy Paige, 8 Jono Ross (captain), 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Wiaan Liebenberg, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.

Substitutes: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Dean Greyling, 18 David Bullbring, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 21 Lohan Jacobs, 22 Waylon Murray, 23 Clayton Blommetjies

Western Province:

15. Gio Aplon, 14. Gerhard van den Heever, 13. Juan de Jongh, 12. Damian de Allende, 11. Cheslin Kolbe, 10. Kurt Coleman, 9. Louis Schreuder, 8. Nizaam Carr, 7. Michael Rhodes, 6. Rynhardt Elstadt 5. De Kock Steenkamp (captain), 4. Taz Fuzani, 3. Pat Cilliers, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff

Substitutes: 16. Michael Willemse, 17. Brok Harris, 18. Gerbrandt Grobler, 19. Rohan Kitshoff, 20. Nic Groom, 21. Gary van Aswegen, 22. Michael van der Spuy
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