Dobson adds more muscle to WP's pack

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: There are six changes to the Western Province starting line-up for the coastal Currie Cup clash against the Sharks at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

Head coach John Dobson has made three changes to the backline and three in the forward pack for the final match of the regular season.

Hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, lock Ruben van Heerden and flank Willie Engelbrecht all come into the starting line-up, having featured among the replacements last week.

In the backline, Godlen Masimla is at scrumhalf, while centre Cornel Smit and wing Mnombo Zwelendaba will also start at Cape Town Stadium.

Dobson said that his team want to show what playing in the blue and white hooped jersey means to them.

"There is a lot of pride in this group in who and what we play for and we want to show that in our performance on Saturday.

"It will take a big effort from every player against a strong Sharks team, but our focus is on showing our loyal supporters what it means to us to represent them," he said.

Western Province are one of five teams that will compete for the last two play-off spots in the final round.

Western Province: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Ben-Jason Dixon, 3 Neethling Fouche (captain), 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Alistair Vermaak.

Replacements: 16 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Jarrod Taylor, 21 Paul de Wet, 22 Juan de Jongh, 23 Luke Burger.

Date: Saturday, June 10

Venue: Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

Kick-off: 17.05 (15.05 GMT)

Referee: Paul Mente

Assistant referees: Griffin Colby, Stephan Geldenhuys

TMO: Egon Seconds