Springbok hopeful hits Stormers milestone

TEAM ANNOUNCEMENT: Flank Ben-Jason Dixon will make his 50th appearance for the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship clash with the Lions at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

The Stormers end the regular season with a South African derby in front of their home crowd.

The hard-working Dixon features in an unchanged back row alongside Hacjivah Dayimani and Evan Roos, while there is an all-new front row of props Neethling Fouche and Sti Sithole and hooker Andre-Hugo Venter.

In the backline Wandisile Simelane comes in at outside centre, with Dan du Plessis inside him to replace the injured Damian Willemse.

*Article continues below...

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu starts at fullback with Warrick Gelant being rested as a precaution due to a slight niggle.

There is plenty of experience on the replacements bench with the two most-capped Stormers of all time Brok Harris and Frans Malherbe set to make an impact up front in the second half, while wing Ben Loader makes his return from injury.

Stormers: 15 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Evan Roos, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Sti Sithole.

Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Marcel Theunissen, 21 Stefan Ungerer, 22 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 23 Ben Loader.

Date: Saturday, June 1

Venue: Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town

Kick-off: 13.45 (11.45 GMT)

Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen (South Africa)

Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa) and Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa)

TMO: Christi du Preez (South Africa)