De Kock Steenkamp has been promoted from the substitutes' bench and the switch with Fondse is the only change to the Province side which overwhelmed the Pumas last week.
Province coach Allister Coetzee said it was important to manage the players as the season wound towards its close: "We are conscious of the need to manage the players in terms of the work load," said Coetzee. "It is a matter that we give thought to all the time. At this stage we think it's is a good time to give Fondse a break."
Fondse's regular lock partner and Province skipper Anton van Zyl said De Kock Steenkamp should have no problems fitting into the side: "He (Steenkamp) has been coming on as a sub every so often so he is familiar with our playing structures," said Van Zyl. "I have no doubt that it will be a seamless transition for Steenkamp to move into the starting side."
Province centre Jean de Villiers said although the Currie Cup log was fairly congested at the top it the team was not thinking about picking up bonus points: "The win is the target and it would be foolish to think about bonus points," said De Villiers. "We need to win every match if we want to win the Currie Cup and that will be the focus, from one week to the next."
Western Province:
15 Conrad Jantjes, 14 JJ Engelbrecht, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Gio Aplon, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl(captain), 4 De Kock Steenkamp, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie and 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 Adriaan Fondse, 19 Nick Kster, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Gary van Aswegen and 22 Paul Bosch.