Venter brings up DHL Stormers 50 in Stellenbosch
Hooker Andre-Hugo Venter will play his 50th match for the DHL Stormers in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship encounter with Glasgow Warriors in Stellenbosch on Saturday.
Venter will run out first at Danie Craven Stadium for the 13h45 kick-off on Saturday against the defending champions.
The 23-year-old hooker will be joined in the starting line-up by World Cup winners Manie Libbok and Frans Malherbe, who are both making their first appearance of the season for the DHL Stormers.
With Libbok at flyhalf, Damian Willemse will line up at inside centre, with skipper Dan du Plessis outside him and Ruhan Nel on the wing.
Venter will have the two most-capped DHL Stormers of all time either side of him in the front row, with Malherbe and Brok Harris the starting props. The only other change to the forward pack sees Ruben van Heerden back in the starting XV, having featured from the bench last week.
Prop Leon Lyons and loose forwards Willie Engelbrecht and Louw Nel come onto a replacements bench which has Herschel Jantjies and Suleiman Hartzenberg as backline cover.
Director of Rugby John Dobson said that his team is focused on backing up their performance against Munster at DHL Stadium last week.
“We saw last week what a difference it makes playing in our conditions in front of our supporters, but we need to back that up on Saturday again.
“Glasgow are the defending champions, so we will have to raise our game further if we are to get the win we need.
“We are thrilled for Andre-Hugo to reach this milestone at such a young age and we look forward to even bigger things from him in the years to come.
“It is fantastic to have the likes of Frans and Manie back in the mix and we expect them to make a real impact on Saturday,” he said.
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ruhan Nel, 13 Dan du Plessis (captain), 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Brok Harris.
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Willie Engelbrecht, 21 Louw Nel, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Suleiman Hartzenberg.
