All eyes will be on Gauteng today as the four South African teams in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship set their sights squarely on climbing up the standings as they take the field in their fourth consecutive round of derbies. The Emirates Lions will host the DHL Stormers in Johannesburg at 15h00 in the first of the two local derbies.
The South African franchises have the luxury of a game or two in hand against most of their rivals, and victories for the DHL Stormers, Cell C Sharks and Vodacom Bulls, in particular, could see them possibly make the jump into the upper half of the log.
The DHL Stormers will provide a stern test for the Emirates Lions at Emirates Airline Park after showing signs of finding their form with two wins and a draw in their three matches this year, but the Johannesburgers will be desperate to make the most of their home ground advantage after coming off three successive defeats.
The Capetonians are currently the best-placed South African team in 10th position on the standings with 18 points, and victory could see them catapult up to four places up the table.
In perfect weather, the Emirates could just be provided, with the return of Vincent Tshituka, some quality attacking ball on the front foot whereas the Stormers will still struggle to replace the momentum that the missing Evan Roos secured for the visiting side.
However, on recent form the Stormers must be the favourites today.
Vincent Tshituka will start at the openside flank for the Emirates Lions.
Joining Tshituka from injury is playmaker Jordan Hendrikse, who forms part of the matchday 23 and could get an opportunity to feature from the replacements bench.
Emirates Lions mentor Ivan van Rooyen welcomed the return of his two squad members.
“We are pleased to have Vince and Jordan back in the VURC setup. They’ve recovered and trained well over the past few weeks, so we look forward to their involvement once more.”
Van Rooyen lauded his side’s effort against the Vodacom Bulls a week ago, which he believes bodes well come Saturday against an opposition they got the better of before the festive break.
“As a group, we felt our overall attitude and intensity went up a notch against the Bulls. It’s the kind of momentum we’re eager to take into Saturday on the back of a positive week of training,” he concluded.
Elsewhere, inside centre, Burger Odendaal makes a return to the starting XV after missing the trip to Pretoria last week due to concussion protocols. Seasoned prop forward JP Smith could get an opportunity to make his competition debut.
The DHL Stormers made three changes to their backline.
Sergeal Petersen starts on the right wing, while Damian Willemse is at inside centre and Paul de Wet at scrumhalf, with Angelo Davids, Dan du Plessis and Herschel Jantjies all set to make an impact from among the replacements this week.
DHL Stormers Head Coach John Dobson said that his team has focused on lifting their standards for what will be a tough encounter in Johannesburg.
“Playing mid-afternoon in February up in Joburg we know that we will have to be switched-on and accurate for 80 minutes.
“We want to build on what we have done in the last few weeks and will be giving it everything to earn what would be an incredibly valuable win on the road.
“It is great to have some continuity in the forward pack and the rotations in the backline will hopefully ensure that we are able to apply some pressure for the full 80 minutes,” he said.
Dobson added that the changes to the backline should give his team some important impetus towards the end of the game.
“As we have said, we had a plan for Damian in these four games. He started at fullback for the first two and then came on at 12 last week, so now we are ready to start him at 12.
“Dan du Plessis was outstanding last week, but he has started three games in a row and to have him coming off the bench along with the likes of Herschel Jantjies and Angelo Davids will give us huge impact in the second half, which is so crucial up there,” he said.
Weather: 26° Celsius, partly cloudy with no rain expected and a moderated north easterly wind.
Prediction: DHL Stormers by 7.
Teams:
Emirates Lions: 15. EW Viljoen 14. Stean Pienaar 13. Manuel Rass 12. Burger Odendaal (vc) 11. Edwill van der Merwe. 10. Tiaan Swanepoel 9. Andre Warner 8. Francke Horn 7. Vincent Tshituka 6. Jaco Kriel (c) 5. Ruben Schoeman 4. Ruhan Straeuli 3. Carlu Sadie 2. PJ Botha 1. Ruan Dreyer: Replacements: 16. Jaco Visagie 17. JP Smith 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Ruan Venter 20. Emmanuel Tshituka 21. Morne van den Berg 22. Jordan Hendrikse 23. Wandisile Simelane.
DHL Stormers: 15. Warrick Gelant, 14. Sergeal Petersen, 13. Ruhan Nel, 12. Damian Willemse, 11. Seabelo Senatla, 10. Manie Libbok, 9. Paul de Wet, 8. Hacjivah Dayimani, 7. Ernst van Rhyn, 6. Deon Fourie, 5. Marvin Orie, 4. Adre Smith, 3. Brok Harris, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff (captain). Replacements: 16. Andre-Hugo Venter, 17. Leon Lyons, 18. Sazi Sandi, 19. David Meihuizen, 20. Marcel Theunissen, 21. Herschel Jantjies, 22. Dan du Plessis, 23. Angelo Davids.