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WP come up with some surprises
There were a couple of surprises when Western Province announced their team for Saturday’s big Currie Cup match against the Sharks in Durban.
Most critics expected Province to stick almost 100% with the group that won against the Bulls last week. But one of the three changes to the starting team would not have been anticipated, while in an effort to combat the mobile, fast tempo approach they expect from the Sharks, WP have also made changes to their bench configuration.
Instead of the five/two split between forwards and backs that was in place last week, WP will this week go in with four forwards and three backs. This in spite of the fact that reserve scrumhalf Conrad Hoffmann has massive utility value in that he can play almost anywhere in the backline.
“We are anticipating the Sharks coming at us with a fast game and mobility is going to be important, and we have covered for that on the bench,” said coach Allister Coetzee.
“Against the Bulls we were expecting a hard, physical confrontation, which it was. The Sharks are also physical, but the way they have been playing, they pose a different kind of challenge to that which was posed by the Bulls.”
The new bench configuration means that JD Moller, who started last week at loosehead prop, now drops right out of the 22.
“It is a pity as JD has been playing well, but we needed to bring back Wicus Blaauw, and we have gone for Buhle Mxunyelwa on the bench as he covers tighthead,” said the coach.
Apart from Blaauw’s return to the run-on team, also back in the starting side are flanker Rynhardt Elstadt and wing JJ Engelbrecht. The later was an anticipated replacement for the injured Fabian Juries, but Elstadt’s recall was unexpected as it is at the expense of Nick Koster.
The young former Bishops star was in excellent form in his first top class match in a long while against the Buls after playing for the WP under-21 side earlier in the season following a long injury break. However, Koster is on the bench, and Coetzee’s explanation for the change did make a lot of sense.
“Rynhardt is not the sort of player you would expect to come on and make an impact late in the game, whereas Nick can definitely do that,” said Coetzee.
Indeed, and if the game is the fast tempo affair most anticipate, Koster could come onto the field jut when WP are in desperate need of some injection of pace. Koster showed last week that he is as speedy around the park as ever, and he is the fastest loose-forward on the WP books.
Elstadt was the first choice WP blindside flank in the early stages of the Currie Cup before making way for the temporary return of Springbok Francois Louw, and then he was ruled out for two weeks after a farming accident.
Morgan Newman, in the Springbok training group at one stage of last season, comes back into the squad as the additional backline reserve.
Western Province team: Conrad Jantjes, JJ Engelbrecht, Tim Whitehead, Paul Bosch, Frikkie Welsh, Willem de Waal, Dewaldt Duvenage, Duane Vermeulen, Rynhardt Elstadt, Pieter Louw, Anton van Zyl (captain), Adriaan Fondse, Brok Harris, Tiaan Liebenberg, Wicus Blaauw.
Reserves: Deon Fourie, Buhle Mxunyelwa, De Kock Steenkamp, Nick Koster, Conrad Hoffmann, Lionel Cronje, Morgan Newman.
