DHL Stormers team v Cheetahs
In the absence of Schalk Burger, Andries Bekker and Jean de Villiers, fellow Springbok Duane Vermeulen will lead this DHL Stormers XV into battle. Burger, Bekker and De Villiers – and the other injured or sick players – are all expected to feature against Boland next weekend.
Even without the trio of Burger, Bekker and De Villiers, eighthman Vermeulen will be one of seven capped Springboks in action for the Stormers on Saturday – including new faces Jaco Taute (at fullback) and Pat Cilliers (from the bench) and also wing Bryan Habana, who will run out as vice-captain.
In all, nine players in the 24-man squad have not played for the DHL Stormers before, with Taute, Damian de Allende and new hooker Martin Bezuidenhout amongst the newbies in the starting line-up.
On the bench, meanwhile, youngsters Stephan Coetzee, Rayn Smid and Pat Howard (all from last year’s DHL WP Under-21 team) will be hoping for their first taste of action, along with other new faces, Ruan Botha and Michael Rhodes who moved to Cape Town last year.
* Saturday’s match will be televised live on SuperSport One. The Stormers will start their 2013 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign against the Bulls on Friday, February 22.
The DHL Stormers team to take on the Toyota Free State Cheetahs is as follows:
15. Jaco Taute
14. Gio Aplon
13. Juan de Jongh
12. Damian de Allende
11. Bryan Habana (vice-captain)
10. Kurt Coleman
9. Louis Schreuder
8. Duane Vermeulen (captain)
7. Don Armand
6. Nizaam Carr
5. De Kock Steenkamp
4. Eben Etzebeth
3. Frans Malherbe
2. Martin Bezuidenhout
1. Steven Kitshoff
Replacements (from):
16. Stephan Coetzee
17. Pat Cilliers
18. Ruan Botha
19. Michael Rhodes
20. Rayn Smid
21. Dewaldt Duvenage
22. Pat Howard
23. Gerhard van den Heever
24. Joe Pietersen
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
