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WP back Willemse at 10, 50-up for Louw

Cape Town - Tighthead prop Wilco Louw will play his 50th match for Western Province in the Currie Cup north-south derby against Blue Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday.

Louw is one of four players who have returned from the Springbok squad to take their place in the starting XV for the final league fixture of the Currie Cup, which kicks off at 17:15 on Saturday.

He is joined in the Western Province team by flank Sikhumbuzo Notshe, flyhalf Damian Willemse and centre Ruhan Nel.

Having already secured a home semi-final at Newlands next week, Western Province will be looking to seal top spot on the standings by continuing their unbeaten run in the Currie Cup this season.

In the front row, Louw starts alongside hooker Scarra Ntubeni and prop Ali Vermaak, with skipper Chris van Zyl and JD Schickerling the lock pairing.

Notshe is at No 8 and will be flanked by Kobus van Dyk and Ernst van Rhyn in the loose trio.

Scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies will form an all-new halfback pairing with Willemse, while Dan du Plessis makes his first start of the season in midfield alongside Nel.

The outside back combination of Dillyn Leyds at fullback and wings Sergeal Petersen and SP Marais remains unchanged.

Western Province coach John Dobson said that his players were expecting a typically tough examination at Loftus Versfeld.

“The Blue Bulls will obviously be highly motivated for this match, which should provide us with the sort of challenge we need ahead of the playoffs,” he said.

“We have got an extremely exciting team and we are all looking forward to putting our plans into action at Loftus Versfeld.”

Kick-off is at 17:15 on Saturday.

Teams:

Blue Bulls

15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Jamba Ulengo, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg (captain), 7 Marco van Staden, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Hendre Stassen, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Matthys Basson
 
Substitutes: 16 Edgar Marutlulle, 17 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 18 Ruan Nortje, 19 Nic de Jager, 20 Embrose Papier, 21 Tinus de Beer, 22 Dylan Sage

Western Province

15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 SP Marais, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Kobus van Dyk, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Chris van Zyl (captain), 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Ali Vermaak.

Substitutes: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Caylib Oosthuizen, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Salmaan Moerat, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Josh Stander

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