DHL Western Province will host the Cell C Sharks at the Cape Town Stadium this afternoon @ 17h00. Midweek games are something of a novelty in the modern era, although it wasn’t always so and like Monday night football in America, Wednesday’s derby game at the Cape Town Stadium offers fans the opportunity to get their rugby fix early.
The winner of today's match against will leapfrog the teams ahead of them on the log to the top of the table.
With a double-round Currie Cup tournament, not much can be read into the early results, especially for the ‘big four’ who are missing their Springboks and are forced to dig deep into their squad depth.
DHL Western Province had a great win against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus (48-28) before going down to the Lions four days later in Johannesburg (38-32).
Cell C Sharks had a bye last week and had to work hard for their win Against Griquas (30-16) two weeks ago.
There are five changes to the DHL Western Province team that will take on the Cell C Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday.
Sergeal Petersen is back at fullback, with Tim Swiel shifting to flyhalf, while Edwill van der Merwe makes his first appearance of the campaign on the wing.
Rikus Pretorius is at the inside centre and will be partnered in midfield by Cornel Smit in the absence of the injured Dan du Plessis, while Paul de Wet starts at scrumhalf.
Evan Roos is back at No.8, with Hacjivah Dayimani making his first start on the flank and loan player Reinach Venter making his DHL Western Province debut at hooker.
DHL Western Province Head Coach John Dobson said that his team is determined to make an impression in their first Carling Currie Cup game at their new home ground, Cape Town Stadium.
“After two games away from home we want to be as accurate as possible in all areas of our game at Cape Town Stadium.
“It has been a good week of preparation and we are excited to see what the players coming in can add this week,” he said.
Cell C Sharks head coach Sean Everitt hasn’t changed a winning formula much this week, making just one enforced change to the forward pack. In the absence of Phepsi Buthelezi who will sit out this game due to concussion, Mpilo Gumede comes in at eighthman.
At the back, Curwin Bosch returns at flyhalf and Thaakir Abrahams replaces Anthony Volmink (injured) on the wing in the two changes to the backline.
Fortunately for the Cell C Sharks, as evidenced by their first-round result, the youth in the side has been given plenty of opportunity on the senior stage.
Everitt’s confidence and trust in the young players who excelled in the 2018 season with the Under 19 team he successfully coached to the SA Rugby Under 19 Competition is paying dividends.
“We have to look at the Currie Cup in two ways: we want to win it, make no mistake about it, but at the same time, we do have to grow our squad and this double-round competition does allow us to give opportunities to players because you can always rectify results if one week it didn’t go your way,” explained the coach.
“We trained last week on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday as we would normally in a match week and we got all our preparation done for this match, before giving the guys Friday, Saturday and Sunday off,” Everitt said. “They returned to training on Monday with really good energy and enthusiasm as always and got on with the job as we recapped on what we did last week.”
DHL Western Province: 15. Sergeal Petersen, 14. Seabelo Senatla, 13. Cornel Smit, 12. Rikus Pretorius, 11. Edwill van der Merwe, 10. Tim Swiel, 9. Paul de Wet, 8. Evan Roos, 7. Hacjivah Dayimani, 6. Marcel Theunissen, 5. David Meihuizen, 4. Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3. Neethling Fouche, 2. Reinach Venter, 1. Ali Vermaak. Replacements (from): 16. Jason Alexander, 17. Leon Lyons, 18. Sazi Sandi, 19. Justin Basson, 20. Johan du Toit, 21. Juarno Augustus, 22. Godlen Masimla, 23. Abner van Reenen, 24. Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 25. Lyle Hendricks.
Cell C Sharks: 15. Manie Libbok, 14. Werner Kok, 13. Jeremy Ward (c), 12. Marius Louw, 11. Thaakir Abrahams, 10. Curwin Bosch, 9. Jaden Hendrikse, 8. Mpilo Gumede, 7. Thembelani Bholi, 6. James Venter, 5. Hyron Andrews, 4. Ruben van Heerden, 3. Khutha Mchunu, 2. Fez Mbatha, 1. Khwezi Mona. Replacements: 16. Dan Jooste, 17. Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18. Wiehahn Herbst, 19. JJ van der Mescht, 20. Reniel Hugo, 21. Dylan Richardson, 22. Grant Williams, 23. Boeta Chamberlain.