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Cape Town - The Stormers have decided to move Gio Aplon from wing to fullback for the Super Rugby derby against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Aplon replaced Conrad Jantjes in a backline that will also include the dangerous Juan de Jongh at inside centre instead of Jean de Viliers who moves to the wing.
Allister Coetzee, the Stormers coach, said the selections for the weekend were as a result of a horses-for-courses policy.
"At Bloemfontein there is a harder, quicker pitch which means that we may need extra speed coming from the back," said Coetzee.
"With Aplon at No 15 it gives us another dimension on attack.
"Jean (De Villiers) and Juan (De Jongh) have proved to be outstanding No 12s and it's important that you get your best players on the pitch for a match like this one.
"Both have been playing really well this season and since it's a fast pitch we're preparing for explosive running along the backline."
Stormers scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage did not train yesterday because he was feeling some stiffness in his upper legs.
"We decided to rest Dewaldt today as a precaution," said Coetzee. "There is no injury concern, the break gives him a chance to shake off the stiffness but he'll be fine by Saturday."
The Stormers seemed to made a break with the France-bound Ricky Januarie because he was not even named on the reserves bench and opted for rookie Louis Schreuder instead.
Teams:Cheetahs:
15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Riaan Viljoen, 13 Robert Ebersohn, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Rayno Benjamin, 10 Sias Ebersohn, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Davon Raubenheimer, 7 Ashley Johnson, 6 Johan Wessels, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Francois Uys, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Substitutes: 16 Ryno Barnes, 17 Lourens Adriaanse, 18 Izak van der Westhuizen, 19 Pieter Myburgh, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Corné Uys, 22 Riaan Smit
Stormers:
15 Gio Aplon, 14 Jean de Villiers, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Dewaldt Duvenhage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw
Substitutes: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Anton van Zyl, 19 Nick Koster, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Johann Sadie, 22 Conrad Jantjes
