DHL Western Province has been boosted by the return to fitness of backs Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Angelo Davids, Godlen Masimla and Duncan Saal for their Currie Cup encounter with NovaVit Griffons at DHL Stadium on Saturday at 20:30.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Davids and Saal form an all-new back three, with Masimla slotting in at scrumhalf having recovered from concussion.
Bruce Sherwood will form a midfield partnership with his captain Juan de Jongh, with U20 centre Damian Markus, set to make his senior DHL Western Province debut from the replacements bench.
The only two changes to the forward pack see Armand Maritz start at blindside flank and Scarra Ntubeni at hooker, in the absence of Junior Pokomela and Andre-Hugo Venter, who are both with the DHL Stormers in Exeter.
There are also potential senior debuts for props Lamla Nune and Matthew Coenraad, who find themselves among the replacements.
DHL Western Province stand-in coach Labeeb Levy said that the returning players will add some real firepower at DHL Stadium.
“We have some quality players coming back into the fold this week and they all have trained really well.
“Every game at home is vitally important and our team is desperate to deliver the goods at DHL Stadium on Saturday.
“We have another player in CPUT prop Matthew Coenraad who has come through the club rugby high-performance programme making his debut, which is also very exciting,” he said.
DHL Western Province: 15 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Bruce Sherwood, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Armand Maritz, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Kwenzo Blose. Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Lamla Nunu, 18 Matthew Coenraad, 19 Dylan de Leeuw, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Imad Khan, 22 Damian Marcus, 23 Tom Nel.