Lock Gary Porter will captain the DHL Stormers XXIII in their SA Rugby U23 Cup opener against Hollywoodbets Sharks U23 in Durban on Friday.
There are eight players with DHL Stormers caps in the starting line-up for the coastal clash, which kicks off at 15h30 on Friday at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
Springbok prop Zachary Porthen is joined in the front row by Junior Springbok Olly Reid and hooker Luca Bakkes. Porter is in the second row alongside the young Tom Barnard, while Junior Springbok captain Riley Norton will link up with Keke Morabe and Alutha Wesi in the loose trio.
Imad Khan will partner Dominic Malgas at halfback, with Luke Burger and Josh Boulle in midfield while fullback JC Mars will have Suleiman Hartzenberg and Mfundo Ndhlovu outside him on the wings.
The replacements bench will feature the talented Markus Muller, along with halfbacks Asad Moos and Kyle Smith as backline cover, with forwards Lukhanyo Vokozela, Hencus van Wyk, Herman Lubbe, Alex Groves and Torren February set to make an impact in the second half.
Head Coach Labeeb Levy said that after a good pre-season match against the Seattle Seawolves, his team is determined to make a positive start to the campaign.
“It was valuable to get some competitive gametime against the Seawolves last week, although we did pay for it a bit with a few injuries.
“Nonetheless, we have managed to put a strong team together and we face a tough away assignment first-up so we’ll have to be on our game from the start,” he said.
DHL Stormers XXIII: 15 JC Mars, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Josh Boulle, 12 Luke Burger, 11 Mfundo Ndhlovu, 10 Dominic Malgas, 9 Imad Khan, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Riley Norton, 6 Alutha Wesi, 5 Gary Porter (captain), 4 Tom Barnard, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Luca Bakkes, 1 Olly Reid.
Replacements: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Herman Lubbe, 19 Alex Groves, 20 Torren February, 21 Asad Moos, 22 Kyle Smith, 23 Markus Muller.
