Rugby news from Western Province:
DHL WP U20 in action at Hamilton RFC:
DHL Western Province U20 will take on Lions U20 in their SA Rugby U20 encounter at Hamilton RFC on Saturday.
The match was initially planned to be played as a curtain-raiser to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship match between the DHL Stormers and Cell C Sharks, but to manage and protect the DHL Stadium pitch given the expected rain on Sunday a call was made to move the SA Rugby U20 match to Hamilton RFC.
The match will still kick-off at 11h45 on Saturday, with the only change the venue, which is adjacent to DHL Stadium. Your match ticket or season ticket will give you entry to Hamilton RFC to watch the game.
There are two changes and a positional switch to the starting line-up.
No.8 Corbin Benjamin returns from injury to take his place on the back of the scrum, while in the backline flyhalf Alex Vermeulen makes his first appearance of the season, with Ulrich Wahl shifting to fullback.
DHL Western Province U20 Head Coach Norman Jordaan said that he is grateful to have such continuity in selection going into an important match.
“We have minimal changes to the starting team this week and that will give the combinations a chance to settle.
“Hopefully we will see some more fluency from the team against what is always a strong team from Johannesburg,” he said.
DHL Western Province U20: 15 Ulrich Wahl, 14 Jared Africa, 13 Bruce Sherwood, 12 Damian Marcus, 11 Thaaqib Ryland, 10 Alex Vermeulen, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Corbin Benjamin, 7 Jamie Ricketts, 6 Paul de Villiers (captain), 5 Adam de Waal, 4 Michael Mutombo, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Luca Bakkes, 1 Christopher Pittaway.
Replacements: 16 Tian Vorster, 17 Matthew Beckett, 18 Mhleli Khuzwayo, 19 Hennie Sieberhagen, 20 Carlos da Costa, 21 Eely Peters, 22 FC Fourie, 23 Joshua Africa.
