Victorious WP forced to change
Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has been forced to change his winning combination for Saturday's Currie Cup clash against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.
Coetzee has made three changes - two of them injury-enforced - to the side that picked up a 42-6 win over the Blue Bulls at Newlands last weekend.
Nic Groom - a try-scorer last week - comes in for the injured Dewaldt Duvenage (broken fibula) at scrumhalf, whilst Damian de Allende will get his first Currie Cup start in the absence of injured left wing Ederies Arendse (shoulder).
The final change to the starting XV is part of coach Coetzee's rotational policy, with Brok Harris earning a start at tighthead prop and Frans Malherbe moving down to the bench.
Joining Malherbe on the bench is SA Under-20 back Pat Howard, who comes in for De Allende; yet another WP Under-21 player taking the step up to the senior ranks in 2012.
Coetzee said that given the current injury situation he wanted to keep changes to the side to a minimum, which means that there is no place for Gary van Aswegen on the bench.
"Due to our injury situation with Ederies Arendse and Dewaldt Duvenage out this week there are already two forced changes to the team so you don't really want to rotate and break down the continuity that we have built up.
"Kurt Coleman obviously is the back-up flyhalf in this squad, and it is a matter of keeping continuity because the Currie Cup has got a dual purpose for us. We want to do well and we can't just rotate week-in and week-out," he said.
The Western Province coach said that one of the key considerations in the make-up of his bench had been the versatility of the players, to ensure that they are covered no matter what happens in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
"I think Helmut [Lehmann] is definitely an out-and-out openside flanker, so if we need to move Deon Fourie back to hooker then we have got a similar player to replace him in Helmut Lehmann. We have got Don Armand who can cover seven and we have got Deon [Fourie] who can cover eight so we dont need an eight/seven in the team.
"Pat Howard is a very exciting prospect as a youngster who weighs over 100 kgs, is very quick and covers wing and centre for us. We have been hit hard by injuries so you have got to make sure that your bench can cover most positions.," he said.
"We have a young team so we need to ensure that these players, despite their inexperience, are able to match that intensity from the Bulls game," said Coetzee.
"The Cheetahs will be tough, especially in Bloemfontein, but we just want to keep improving in every facet of play - like we did last week."
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Damian de Allende, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements: 16 Steven Kitshoff, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Helmut Lehmann, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Patrick Howard, 22 Kurt Coleman.
Date: Saturday, September 8
Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Joey Salmans, François Groenewald
TMO: Gerrie Coetzee