Rassie hoping for good workout
This will be his side’s final warm-up match after having beaten Saracens at Newlands the past Sunday. Erasmus said he was expecting a good workout.
“Obviously they are at full strength. They played a few games against Maties and UCT, so they would be a bit match fit and they played Saracens on Wednesday night. That is exactly what we want.
“If they come out there and wanting to play the best game – that is exactly what we want and we could not have asked for something better, especially for the guys who are pushing for a spot in our team.
“There are a lot of guys pushing for a spot in our starting line-up and they can’t ask for a better challenge than a bunch of Boland guys who are fired-up and who also want to be in the Stormers side. That is wonderful and that is why we arranged the fixture.”
Erasmus opted to leave most of his stars on the bench and fullback Conrad Jantjes and flank Schalk Burger are still absent due to injuries. The coach wants to introduce his stalwarts in the second half.
“At this stage we want to give guys like Brian (Mujati, who missed the Saracens game due to injury) as much game time as possible. He might play 60 to 80 minutes,” explained the coach.
“Other guys like Bobes (Gcobani Bobo) and Jean (de Villiers) would like to have another go together. So, as the game pans out some of the guys on the bench may not even get a run, but we should make most of the changes after halftime.”
Boland lost against Saracens on Wednesday night but made a number of changes to that side. Like Erasmus said, they will come out firing to prove a point to Erasmus and the Stormers.
Teams for Wellington:
Boland: 15 Justin Peach, 14 Deon Scholtz, 13 Hein Myburgh, 12 Dewey Swartbooi, 11 Cornel Hendricks, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Marnus Hugo, 8 David Hendricks, 7 Conrad Burke (captain), 6 Zolani Mofu, 5 Rito Hlungwani, 4 Nico Esterhuyse, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Clemen Lewis, 1 Harry Vermaas.
Replacements – from: Janro van Niekerk, Ivan Espag, Frikkie Spies, Smit Janse van Rensburg, Andre du Toit, Danie van der Merwe, Lionel Cornelius, Alvin Hugo, Godwin Damon.
Vodacom Stormers: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Nick Koster, 13 Dylan Des Fountain, 12 Morgan Newman, 11 Alipate Fatafehi, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Luke Watson, 7 Pieter Louw, 6 Conraad Brits, 5 AJ Venter (captain), 4 George Earle, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements – from: Schalk Brits, Wicus Blaauw, Schalk Ferreira, Hilton Lobberts, Adriaan Fondse, Andries Bekker, Duane Vermeulen, Bolla Conradie, Ricky Januarie, Peter Grant, Jean de Villiers, Gcobani Bobo, Tonderai Chavhanga, Sireli Naqelevuki.
Venue: Boland Stadium, Wellington
Kick-off: 17.30
Referee: Phillip Bosch
Touch judges: Linston Manuels, Marc van Zyl
