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Cape Town - Experienced flanker Rohan Kitshoff will captain the Western Province team in the 2014 Vodacom Cup, starting with Saturday's clash against the Boland Cavaliers at City Park in Crawford.
Kitshoff scored the winning try for WP in the final of the 2012 Vodacom Cup and his big-game experience - having also played 13 Tests (including the 2011 Rugby World Cup) for Namibia - will be a key factor for this young Province outfit in 2014.
JP Lewis, Devon Williams, Johnny Kotze, Godlen Masimla, Rayn Smid, Sikhumbuzo Nothse, Entienne Swanepoel, Stephan Coetzee, Eital Bredenkamp, Carel du Preez and Kyle Lombard were all part of the championship-winning WP Under-21 team from last year, with Lewis, Kotze, Notshe, Swanepoel, Bredenkamp, Du Preez and Lombard all still eligible for the U21s this season.
Starting lock Jan Uys captained the WP Under-19 team last year, whilst JD Schickerling - who is part of the exciting 2014 WP Rugby Institute intake - could get his first taste of senior action after being named on the bench just a few months after leaving school.
Elsewhere in the WP starting XV, meanwhile, the likes of Tiger Bax, Michael van der Spuy, Gary van Aswegen, Tazz Fuzani, Alistair Vermaak and Reuben Johannes will add a bit more experience to the selection mix - all boasting senior WP and/or Stormers experience at some point.
Western Province coach John Dobson commented: "We've been hard at work for almost three and a half months... it's time to play!
"We had a great pre-season camp in Hermanus two weeks ago and (we) wrapped up preparations with a training match against Hamilton's last week.
"We have, in a sense, had three different groups to mould together this year.
"The guys coming down from the Stormers, who might be understandably a bit disappointed, the contracted youngsters that we have had the whole season and then the emerging players, who have, again, been so well identified by Jerome Paarwater - the head of talent identification here at WP.
"I would like to make special mention of these players who spent November and December training at Bellville at 18h00," added Dobson, "and then have sacrificed time and their jobs to train with us.
"They were a great addition to the squad."
Six matches will take place at City Park on Saturday, starting with four Community Challenge fixtures (between four WP club teams and four Boland club sides) and then culminating in two Vodacom Cup clashes - the Tusker Simba XV (from Kenya) v the Eastern Province Kings (15h00) and WP v Boland (16:40).
"We are really looking forward to our game against Boland at City Park - the culmination of what should be a great day's rugby," Dobson said.
"Obviously, we know it's going to be a tough game given Boland's performance against the Stormers XV a couple of weeks ago. But I am sure we will be putting a well-prepared and motivated team out there.
"The team has quite a few graduates from last year's Under-21 team and is generally a young and exciting one.
"I have no doubt that they will play some exciting attractive rugby that will do Province traditions proud and be well worth watching (too)."
Kitshoff scored the winning try for WP in the final of the 2012 Vodacom Cup and his big-game experience - having also played 13 Tests (including the 2011 Rugby World Cup) for Namibia - will be a key factor for this young Province outfit in 2014.
JP Lewis, Devon Williams, Johnny Kotze, Godlen Masimla, Rayn Smid, Sikhumbuzo Nothse, Entienne Swanepoel, Stephan Coetzee, Eital Bredenkamp, Carel du Preez and Kyle Lombard were all part of the championship-winning WP Under-21 team from last year, with Lewis, Kotze, Notshe, Swanepoel, Bredenkamp, Du Preez and Lombard all still eligible for the U21s this season.
Starting lock Jan Uys captained the WP Under-19 team last year, whilst JD Schickerling - who is part of the exciting 2014 WP Rugby Institute intake - could get his first taste of senior action after being named on the bench just a few months after leaving school.
Elsewhere in the WP starting XV, meanwhile, the likes of Tiger Bax, Michael van der Spuy, Gary van Aswegen, Tazz Fuzani, Alistair Vermaak and Reuben Johannes will add a bit more experience to the selection mix - all boasting senior WP and/or Stormers experience at some point.
Western Province coach John Dobson commented: "We've been hard at work for almost three and a half months... it's time to play!
"We had a great pre-season camp in Hermanus two weeks ago and (we) wrapped up preparations with a training match against Hamilton's last week.
"We have, in a sense, had three different groups to mould together this year.
"The guys coming down from the Stormers, who might be understandably a bit disappointed, the contracted youngsters that we have had the whole season and then the emerging players, who have, again, been so well identified by Jerome Paarwater - the head of talent identification here at WP.
"I would like to make special mention of these players who spent November and December training at Bellville at 18h00," added Dobson, "and then have sacrificed time and their jobs to train with us.
"They were a great addition to the squad."
Six matches will take place at City Park on Saturday, starting with four Community Challenge fixtures (between four WP club teams and four Boland club sides) and then culminating in two Vodacom Cup clashes - the Tusker Simba XV (from Kenya) v the Eastern Province Kings (15h00) and WP v Boland (16:40).
"We are really looking forward to our game against Boland at City Park - the culmination of what should be a great day's rugby," Dobson said.
"Obviously, we know it's going to be a tough game given Boland's performance against the Stormers XV a couple of weeks ago. But I am sure we will be putting a well-prepared and motivated team out there.
"The team has quite a few graduates from last year's Under-21 team and is generally a young and exciting one.
"I have no doubt that they will play some exciting attractive rugby that will do Province traditions proud and be well worth watching (too)."
