A tough opening match awaits the DHL Stormers in the third round of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship. The Capetonians start their four-week tour of the north against the Glasgow Warriors on Friday evening at 21:35.
Glasgow have won all eight of their home matches against South African sides at Scotstoun Stadium in the Vodacom URC, something the DHL Stormers have also experienced as their only defeat in five matches against Scottish opponents coming in their previous trip to Scotstoun last January.
There are a number of changes to the DHL Stormers team. With Ruhan Nel ruled out due to a concussion picked up in the win against Scarlets last week, Ben Loader moves to outside centre, with Angelo Davids taking his place on the wing.
Jean-Luc du Plessis has recovered from a pre-season niggle to start at flyhalf and will link up with Herschel Jantjies at halfback and Keke Morabe makes his first start for the DHL Stormers at the back of the scrum, with Evan Roos shifting to flank and Willie Engelbrecht on the other side of the scrum.
The only other change to the starting line-up is in the second row, with Ben-Jason Dixon alongside Ruben van Heerden.
Upon naming their tour squad, DHL Stormers head coach John Dobson said that they will need to concentrate their preparations.
“While we are happy to have 10 log points from these first two games, this will be an altogether different challenge in vastly contrasting conditions,” said Dobson. “We are playing on an artificial pitch against an impressive Glasgow side, so we will have to make the most of all the training time we have after the travel.”
Glasgow Warriors' Head Coach Franco Smith and his coaching team made seven changes in total to the starting XV that took to the field in Galway last weekend, as the Warriors look to bounce back.
Three Scotland stars, Matt Fagerson, Sione Tuipulotu and Ollie Smith will all make their first appearances of the URC 2023/24 campaign tomorrow night.
Teams:
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ben Loader, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Herschell Jantjies, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Evan Roos, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Ben-Jason Dickson, 3 Neethling Fouche (c), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak. Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Gary Porter, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Stefan Ungerer, 23 Clayton Blommetjies.
Glasgow Warriors: 1 Oli Kebble, 2 Johnny Matthews, 3 Zander Fagerson, 4 Greg Peterson, 5 Richie Gray, 6 Matt Fagerson, 7 Rory Darge, 8 Sione Vailanu, 9 George Horne, 10 Tom Jordan, 11 Kyle Rowe, 12 Stafford McDowall, 13 Sione Tuipulotu, 14 Sebastian Cancelliere, 15 Ollie Smith, Replacements: 16 Angus Fraser, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Lucio Sordoni, 19 Scott Cummings, 20 Alex Samuel, 21 Henco Venter, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Duncan Weir.