Cape Town - Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has made just one change to his starting line-up for Saturday's Currie Cup meeting with the Blue Bulls at Newlands (14:00 kick-off).
The only change to the WP line-up sees Stephan Coetzee named in the No 2 jersey, in his first start at this level, with the injured Tiaan Liebenberg (back) dropping out this week.
Fellow hooker Scarra Ntubeni suffered an injury setback at training on Tuesday, meaning that UCT Varsity Cup star Neil Rautenbach gets a chance on the bench - on debut - as back-up to Coetzee. Ntubeni tweaked his calf muscle at training and will be out for a minimum of 14 days.
While coach Coetzee has wisely not tampered too much with his starting team this week, there are plenty of new faces on the bench as Brok Harris, Ruan Botha, Rynhardt Elstadt, Kurt Coleman and Jaco Taute all return.
Prop Harris (shoulder), lock Botha (ankle), flank Elstadt (shoulder) and flyhalf Coleman (knee) are all back from injury, while centre/fullback Taute is back from compassionate leave to give the home side a powerful bench with plenty of options.
Coetzee told the WP Rugby website: "Selection was incredibly tough this week, but, thankfully (and mostly), for all the good reasons!
"Like I said earlier this week, we needed to marry continuity with players coming back and I am comfortable with the selections we have made this week and I have full confidence in each and every player in the team."
WP opened their 2014 Currie Cup campaign with a bonus-point win against the EP Kings in Port Elizabeth last Friday, while the Blue Bulls went down by 13-41 to the Golden Lions in Johannesburg.
"What happened last week matters for nothing, for both us and the Bulls," said Coetzee.
"There is no such thing as a weak Blue Bulls side and you only have to think back to last year's Currie Cup encounter between our two teams when a young Bulls team was a conversion away from beating us.
"We're preparing for a tough encounter against the Bulls, as always, and we're certainly determined to give a good account of ourselves in front of our home fans at DHL Newlands."
Matches get underway at 09:45 on Saturday, with the WP Under-19s in action against the Bulls Under-19s, before the WP Under-21 team takes on the Bulls Uder-21s.
Teams:
Western Province:
15. Cheslin Kolbe, 14. Kobus van Wyk, 13. Juan de Jongh (captain), 12. Michael van der Spuy, 11. Seabelo Senatla, 10. Demetri Catrakilis, 9. Nic Groom, 8. Nizaam Carr, 7. Michael Rhodes, 6. Siya Kolisi, 5. Manuel Carizza, 4. Jean Kleyn , 3. Pat Cilliers (vice-captain), 2. Stephan Coetzee, 1. Alistair Vermaak
Substitutes: 16. Neil Rautenbach, 17. Brok Harris, 18. Ruan Botha, 19. Rynhardt Elstadt, 20. Louis Schreuder, 21. Kurt Coleman, 22. Jaco Taute
Blue Bulls:
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann(captain), 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Hencus Van Wyk, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel
The only change to the WP line-up sees Stephan Coetzee named in the No 2 jersey, in his first start at this level, with the injured Tiaan Liebenberg (back) dropping out this week.
Fellow hooker Scarra Ntubeni suffered an injury setback at training on Tuesday, meaning that UCT Varsity Cup star Neil Rautenbach gets a chance on the bench - on debut - as back-up to Coetzee. Ntubeni tweaked his calf muscle at training and will be out for a minimum of 14 days.
While coach Coetzee has wisely not tampered too much with his starting team this week, there are plenty of new faces on the bench as Brok Harris, Ruan Botha, Rynhardt Elstadt, Kurt Coleman and Jaco Taute all return.
Prop Harris (shoulder), lock Botha (ankle), flank Elstadt (shoulder) and flyhalf Coleman (knee) are all back from injury, while centre/fullback Taute is back from compassionate leave to give the home side a powerful bench with plenty of options.
Coetzee told the WP Rugby website: "Selection was incredibly tough this week, but, thankfully (and mostly), for all the good reasons!
"Like I said earlier this week, we needed to marry continuity with players coming back and I am comfortable with the selections we have made this week and I have full confidence in each and every player in the team."
WP opened their 2014 Currie Cup campaign with a bonus-point win against the EP Kings in Port Elizabeth last Friday, while the Blue Bulls went down by 13-41 to the Golden Lions in Johannesburg.
"What happened last week matters for nothing, for both us and the Bulls," said Coetzee.
"There is no such thing as a weak Blue Bulls side and you only have to think back to last year's Currie Cup encounter between our two teams when a young Bulls team was a conversion away from beating us.
"We're preparing for a tough encounter against the Bulls, as always, and we're certainly determined to give a good account of ourselves in front of our home fans at DHL Newlands."
Matches get underway at 09:45 on Saturday, with the WP Under-19s in action against the Bulls Under-19s, before the WP Under-21 team takes on the Bulls Uder-21s.
Teams:
Western Province:
15. Cheslin Kolbe, 14. Kobus van Wyk, 13. Juan de Jongh (captain), 12. Michael van der Spuy, 11. Seabelo Senatla, 10. Demetri Catrakilis, 9. Nic Groom, 8. Nizaam Carr, 7. Michael Rhodes, 6. Siya Kolisi, 5. Manuel Carizza, 4. Jean Kleyn , 3. Pat Cilliers (vice-captain), 2. Stephan Coetzee, 1. Alistair Vermaak
Substitutes: 16. Neil Rautenbach, 17. Brok Harris, 18. Ruan Botha, 19. Rynhardt Elstadt, 20. Louis Schreuder, 21. Kurt Coleman, 22. Jaco Taute
Blue Bulls:
15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JJ Engelbrecht, 12 Burger Odendaal, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 Piet van Zyl, 8 Jono Ross, 7 Jacques du Plessis, 6 Deon Stegmann(captain), 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Paul Willemse, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 Marcel van der Merwe.
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Hencus Van Wyk, 18 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 19 Jacques Engelbrecht, 20 Rudy Paige, 21 Tony Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel