RUGBY NEWS - DHL Western Province's confidence that Salmaan Moerat would be back for their game against the British and Irish Lions tourists next week was destroyed when the player announced on Instagram that he’d undergone an operation, but at least JD Schickerling is back in the mix.
WP coach John Dobson said before last week’s Carling Currie Cup clash with the Cell C Sharks that he was looking forward to having both his first choice second row forwards, Moerat and Schickerling, in the selection mix for the Lions game.
However, no sooner had he said those words than Moerat was posting photos on social media from his hospital bed following a neck operation that will rule him out of rugby for three months.
Moerat, who was appointed Stormers vice-captain earlier in the year, missed his team’s entire Rainbow Cup campaign with a neck injury sustained in training two weeks before the competition started. Dobson said at the time that the former national age-group captain would be out for an unspecified period, but a few weeks back was more confident that Moerat was on his way back.
Schickerling is back though from the ankle injury that kept him out of most of the Rainbow Cup and his return was confirmed by his inclusion on the WP bench for Wednesday afternoon’s Currie Cup clash with Tafel Lager Griquas at Cape Town Stadium (kick-off 15.45). Dobson has made six changes to the starting team that beat the Sharks, with some players returning from injury, among that number being centre Dan du Plessis and openside flank Nama Xaba.
It should be particularly pleasing for Dobson to see Xaba back after the excellent performance he put in as a starter in the first Rainbow Cup game against the Sharks two months ago. Unfortunately, he was injured the week after the game and took no further part in the competition, but he is a player with a bright future and a good performance against Griquas will likely book him a place in the team to play the Lions on 17 July. There are two changes to the loose trio, with Johan du Toit coming in on the blindside flank in place of the injured Hacjivah Dayimani.
Du Plessis’ return to fitness means that Rikus Pretorius, who has been in good form wherever he has played recently, will move back to outside centre to accommodate him in the No 12 jersey. Also back from injury and in the starting team is hooker JJ Kotze, who returns to the front row in place of loan player Reinach Venter, who moves to the bench.
In the other changes Sazi Sandi comes in at tighthead prop for Neethling Fouche while Godlen Masimla is back in the No 9 jersey in what looks like a rotational switch given how good Paul de Wet has been at scrumhalf in recent games.
Apart from Schickerling, a further boost to the bench is the inclusion of Springbok Juan de Jongh, who will be playing his first Currie Cup game for WP since 2016 when he gets onto the field following his return from a stint in English club rugby. His appearance off the should be the forerunner to his inclusion in the starting team against the Lions tourists.
DHL Western Province team:Sergeal Petersen, Seabelo Senatla, Rikus Pretorius, Dan du Plessis, Edwill van der Merwe, Tim Swiel, Godlen Masimla, Evan Roos, Johan du Toit, Nama Xaba, David Meihuizen, Ernst van Rhyn (captain), Sazi Sandi, JJ Kotze, Ali Vermaak.
Replacements:Reinach Venter, Leon Lyons, Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, JD Schickerling, Niel Otto, Marcel Theunissen, Paul de Wet, Abner van Reenen, Andre-Hugo Venter, Justin Basson, Juan de Jongh.
