The Airlink Pumas scored 64 points and 10 tries in their big win over the NovaVit Griffons in Welkom last week. They may be in for a tougher encounter this Friday, though, when they host a DHL Western Province side on Friday at 16:30 (SA Time) with a point to prove.
DHL WP lost control of the recent game against the Toyota Cheetahs and went on to record a disappointing defeat. A sharper all-round performance will be required when they travel to Mpumalanga to face a ruthless Airlink Pumas outfit, who scored 43 unanswered points in the second half against the NovaVit Griffons last week.
The visitors will be without Kade Wolhuter – the tournament’s leading point-scorer (74), as the flyhalf has been ruled out for the rest of the season after sustaining a serious knee injury.
Airlink Pumas head coach Jimmy Stonehouse has shown full confidence in his squad that completely outclassed the NovaVit Griffons last weekend and made no changes to his squad.
There are four changes to the DHL Western Province backline for the Currie Cup clash with the Airlink Pumas at Mbombela Stadium on Friday.
There is just one change to the forward pack for the encounter with the defending champions, which kicks off at 16h30 on Friday.
Flyhalf Kade Wolhuter has been sidelined for some time by a knee injury picked up in training this week. As a result Jean-Luc du Plessis will start at pivot, with Cornel Smit at inside centre and young Damian Markus among the replacements.
The other changes to the backline see Suleiman Hartzenberg on the right wing and a fit-again Godlen Masimla at scrumhalf.
Kwenzo Blose starts at loosehead prop in the only change among the forwards.
DHL Western Province Head Coach John Dobson said that the trip to Mbombela Stadium will be a good test.
“We have been making steady improvements recently and would like to continue that trend on Friday in what will be a big challenge.
“The Toyota Cheetahs are one of the top teams in this competition and we put ourselves in a position where we should have beaten them last week, so to lose like that was quite frustrating, but there were some positives to take from the first 60 minutes.
“While it is a blow to lose a player of Kade’s calibre, we have some experienced players coming in and hopefully that will help lift our game further,” he said.
Teams:
Airlink Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Stefan Coetzee, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Jade Stighling, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Giovan Snyman, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Deon Slabbert, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Shane Kirkwood (captain), 4 Malembe Mpofu, 3 Njabulo Gumede, 2 Corne Fourie, 1 Cameron Dawson. Replacements: 16 PJ Jacobs, 17 Etienne Janeke, 18 Simon Raw, 19 Andre Fouche, 20 Ruwald van der Merwe, 21 Chriswill September, 22 Brandon Thomson, 23 Lundi Msenge.
DHL Western Province: 15 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Jarrod Taylor, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Kwenzo Blose. Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Corne Weilbach, 19 Dylan de Leeuw, 20 Louw Nel, 21 Labib Kannemeyer, 22 Damian Markus, 23 Luke Burger.