Cape Town - Western Province coach Allister Coetzee is wary of the threat that Griquas can pose in their Currie Cup encounter at Newlands on Saturday.

Griquas have reeled off three successive victories - against the Golden Lions (42-32 in Johannesburg) and at home against the Sharks (22-15) and the Blue Bulls (49-34) - which will give the men from Kimberley immense confidence ahead of their Cape Town trip.

"In this Currie Cup there are no big unions and small unions, this is strength-versus-strength," Coetzee told the WP Rugby website.

"It's a formidable Griquas side," he added.

"They've got experienced players who have played plenty of Currie Cup rugby and some of them Super Rugby as well. They have also got 'X-Factor' players if you think of (fullback) Willie le Roux there, he has really been one of the best attacking backs in the competition and (winger) Rocco Jansen.

"They're all hitting form at the right time and they have a big pack of forwards who will obviously lay a good platform for them, they have got a great driving maul.

"We're up against a good quality Griquas side and if you look at where we are in the competition this is a very important game for us. Of course, it's also a home game... (and) we want to get back to winning ways again."

WP lost 43-27 in an ill-tempered clash against the Sharks in Durban last week to surrender their top spot on the log. They currently sit third on the overall standings with 15 points, five behind the Golden Lions and Sharks. Only points difference separates WP and the fourth-placed Griquas which makes Saturday's clash all the more important for both sides.

Kick-off is at 15:00.

Teams:

Western Province:

15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Gio Aplon, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Don Armand, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff

Substitutes: 16 Deon Carstens, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Helmut Lehmann, 19 JJ Gagiano, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Gary van Aswegen
22 Damian de Allende

Griquas:

15 Willie le Roux, 14 Richard Lawson 13 Jean Stemmet, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Rocco Jansen, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 Leon Karemaker, 7 Wesley Wilkins, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Ligtoring Landman, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Ryno Barnes (captain), 1 Steph Roberts

Substitutes: 16 Matthew Dobson, 17 Ivann Espag, 18 Edwin Hewitt, 19 Justin Downey, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Marnitz Boshoff, 22 Luzuko Vulindlu