WP keep their Dysselsdorp promise
The majority of the Vodacom Cup-winning Western Province team will head to Dysselsdorp for a friendly against the SWD Eagles this weekend, as WP make good on a promise made to a rugby-mad community back in April.
Vodacom Cup coach John Dobson, who also looks after the WP Under-21 team, will guide this shadow Currie Cup team against the Eagles in what should be a valuable pre-Currie Cup friendly for both sides.
Whilst Dobson will hand the reins to Stormers boss Allister Coetzee after the Super Rugby tournament, he will play a role in whipping the team into shape ahead of the 2012 Currie Cup.
And he - and his team - cannot wait to return to the Dysselsdorp Stadium, at the foot of the Kamanassie Mountains near Oudtshoorn, where the Vodacom Cup team experienced something that they had never seen before in their rugby-playing lives.
"Officially, it's a Currie Cup pre-season friendly," said Dobson, "but also it's also a great chance for us to give something to the Dysselsdorp community.
"They were deprived of hosting the Vodacom Cup game between these two teams at the last minute [in April], but the team saw - from a brief visit in Dysselsdorp after our captain's practise in Oudtshoorn - the massive passion for Western Province amongst what is an impoverished community.
"By the time the WP bus stopped at the ground for a walk-around there must have been 200 kids running behind the bus and easily 1,000 people at the ground to watch us walk around. The team found it very powerful and humbling, so we wanted to give them something back and actually play a game there. Thelo Wakefield, our president, was there and he told them that we would come back and play a game in front of the people who had been so looking forward to it."
Dobson added: "I'm so proud that we are doing this, that we have kept our word and that Thelo Wakefield delivered and made this happen. It's going to mean a lot to the people of Dysselsdorp - where a sell-out crowd of 11,000 is expected to pack into the stadium."
Rugby-wise the Eagles start their First Division campaign in two weeks' time, so this is vital to their preparations, whilst WP's Vodacom Cup stars, Danie Poolman, Marcel Brache, Nic Groom, Tyrone Holmes and Skarra Ntubeni, could even be pressed into Super Rugby action should the need arise over the next few weeks.
There is, of course, also the small matter of the Currie Cup Premier Division starting in August - not to mention the Under-21 Currie Cup tournament which gets underway a month before (in mid-July).
"For us it gives those players who will play Under-21 and senior Currie Cup rugby a chance to stay match-ready whilst the break is on and it also gives us the chance to look at some new players we've pulled into the squad," said Dobson.
"We had a really tough game there in the Vodacom Cup and this, thanks to some players being out through injury or having moved on or up (to the Stormers), will be even tougher."
The Western Province team: 15 Burton Francis, 14 Danie Poolman, 13 Berton Klaasen, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Ederies Arendse, 10 Kurt Coleman, 9 Nic Groom (captain), 8 Tyrone Holmes, 7 Yaya Hartzenberg, 6 Reuben Johannes, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Hilton Lobberts, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Skarra Ntubeni, 1 Allistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Sidney Tobias, 17 Chris Heiberg, 18 Ryan Olivier, 19 Kobus Nel, 20 Rick Schroeder, 21 Michael van der Spuy, 22 JP du Plessis, 23 Damian de Allende.
Kick-off: 3.30pm
By Howard Kahn