The Stormers have selected a Springbok-laden team for their match against Edinburgh, with one Test star appointed as the new captain.
With Frans Malherbe’s comeback, the Stormers’ roster for Saturday’s URC matchup against Edinburgh now boasts eight Springboks.
The Stormers need to win as many games as they can over the next three weeks in order to move to the playoffs as the URC approaches the business end of the season. Currently, they are sitting just outside of the top eight qualifying slots.
SPRINGBOKS POWER STORMERS TITLE RACE
Starting with their clash against Edinburgh in Cape Town on Saturday, coach John Dobson has brought in his heavy artillery in the form of eight Springboks in the match day squad.
The biggest and most important news — in both a franchise and national context — from those selections, is the return of Frans Malherbe after five-month injury layoff.
After fine performance for the Springboks in the 2023 World Cup final, Malberhe suffered a back injury, but that is now a thing of the past and he slots straight back into the Stormers’ starting XV.
In a big change to the team leadership, Salmaan Moerat overcome all his injury struggles to take over the captaincy.
Fullback Damian Willemse, flyhalf Manie Libbok and No 8 Evan Roos are the only Springboks in the run-on team, while front rowers Joseph Dweba and Lizo Gqoboka and scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies will power the Stormers bench.
Another Springbok, Deon Fourie, will miss the game through a minor injury.
STORMERS TO PULL OUT ALL STOPS AT FORTRESS
John Dobson said that his team is keen to impress at the start of a crucial sequence of home games.
“We have some serious players coming back into the mix and after over two months it will be fantastic to be back at DHL Stadium.
“There has been some good work put in over the last few weeks on the training ground and we are excited about seeing the results of that.
“We have some big games at home in this period, so it will be important for us to hit the ground running and build some momentum against what is an impressive Edinburgh side,” he said.
Stormers — 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Nama Xaba, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (c), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Brok Harris.
Subs: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jurie Matthee, 23 Ben Loader.
