Tighthead prop Zachary Porthen will captain DHL Western Province U21 in their clash with Leopards U21 in Potchefstroom on Saturday.
The former Junior Springbok skipper recently earned his first DHL Stormers cap and has since taken over the captaincy as the table-topping DHL Western Province U21 look to continue their unbeaten start to the season when they take on Leopards U21 at 12h00 on Saturday.
There are several changes to the team that defeated Fidelity ADT Lions U21 at DHL Stadium last week, with centre Grant de Jager, scrumhalf Ezekiel Ngobeni and prop Herman Lubbe all ruled out due to academic commitments, while locks Patrick Kitete and Danio Botha both miss out through injury.
Junior Springboks Gino Cupido and Asad Moos come into the starting line-up after featuring off the replacements bench last week, with No.8 Wandile Mlaba making his first appearance of the campaign after featuring for the national U20 side.
Lock Tom Barnard and scrumhalf Adeeb Boraine are two U19 players who will get an opportunity to show what they can do from the replacements bench this week.
Head Coach Johno van der Walt said that it will be important for the new combinations to find some fluency from the get-go in Potchefstroom.
“It is tough to lose five players from last week, but we have confidence in the quality of the players coming in.
“The challenge will be for them to settle into our set-up and impose themselves on what is always a competitive Leopards side.
“It is an away game, so we will have to be as sharp as ever to come away with the win,” he said.
DHL Western Province U21: 15 Dylan Miller, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Gino Cupido, 12 Dominic Malgas, 11 Siyabonga Ndlosi, 10 Kyle Smith, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Wandile Mlaba, 7 Divan Fuller, 6 Max du Pisani, 5 Andre Goedhals, 4 Aden de Costa, 3 Zachary Porthen (captain), 2 Luca Bakkes, 1 Matthew Beckett. Replacements: 16 Armand Combrinck, 17 Oliver Reid, 18 Ryno Loots, 19 Tom Barnard, 20 Torren February, 21 Xola Nyali, 22 Adeeb Boraine, 23 Samuel Badenhorst.