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WP pick Groom at scrumhalf

Cape Town - Western Province head coach Allister Coetzee has named his team for Saturday's Absa Currie Cup clash against the Toyota Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

Kick-off is at 19:10.

Coetzee has made just three changes - two of them injury-enforced - to the side that picked up a 42-6 win over the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Newlands last weekend.

Nic Groom - a try-scorer last week - comes in for the injured Dewaldt Duvenage (broken fibula) at scrumhalf, whilst Damian de Allende will get his first Absa Currie Cup start in the absence of injured left-wing Ederies Arendse (shoulder).

The final change to the starting XV is part of coach Coetzee's rotational policy, with Brok Harris earning a start at tighthead prop and Frans Malherbe moving down to the bench.

Joining Malherbe on the bench is SA Under-20 back Pat Howard, who comes in for De Allende; yet another DHL WP Under-21 player taking the step up to the senior ranks in 2012.

"We have a young team so we need to ensure that these players, despite their inexperience, are able to match that intensity from the Bulls game," said Coetzee.

"The Cheetahs will be tough, especially in Bloemfontein, but we just want to keep improving in every facet of play - like we did last week."

Teams:

Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Nico Scheepers, 13 Robert Ebersohn (c), 12 Andries Strauss, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Davon Raubenheimer, 7 Lappies Labuschagne, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Izak van der Westhuizen, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Marcel van der Merwe, 2 Hercu Liebenberg, 1 Schalk van der Merwe

Substitutes: 16 Elandre Huggett, 17 Ross Geldenhuys, 18 Waltie Vermeulen, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Phillip Snyman, 22 Rayno Benjamin

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 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Deon Carstens

Substitutes: 16 Steven Kitshoff, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Helmut Lehmann, 20 Louis Schreuder
21 Patrick Howard*, 22 Kurt Coleman

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