The extent to which the DHL Stormers were short of being full strength in their loss to the Ospreys last week was illustrated by coach John Dobson making nine changes to his team for Saturday’s crucial Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash with log leaders Leinster.
One of those nine changes is a positional switch for the visit of Leinster to the DHL Stadium, with Dan du Plessis moving to outside centre to accommodate Springbok Damian Willemse starting in the No 12 jersey he wore last week. Willemse played off the bench against the Ospreys and when he did come onto the field it was as a replacement for Wandisile Simelane at outside centre.
The exciting Simelane is included as the outside back cover on a bench which has a six/two split between forwards and backs, with Stefan Ungerer being rewarded for a good performance in the starting team against the Ospreys by being included on the bench. Springbok Herschel Jantjies is back as the starting scrumhalf.
There are no other changes outside of the midfield and scrumhalf at the back, but the pack has an almost completely new look to it. Salmaan Moerat returns to the second row from where he will captain the side alongside Ruben van Heerden, who was on the bench last week. Ben-Jason Dixon is back on the blindside flank in place of Hacjivah Dayimani, who is playing the role of impact sub on Saturday, and Marcel Theunissen joins Jason-Dixon in the starting team after being on the bench against the Ospreys.
Theunissen is one of two starting loose-forwards celebrating his 50th cap in this game, the other being No 8 Evan Roos. But both those players are upstaged by Brok Harris, who will be playing his 150th game for the Stormers, those games being spanned across what have been two distinctly different careers at the Cape franchise for the veteran.
Harris is this week joined in the front row by Joseph Dweba and Neethling Fouche, with the latter back rotated with Springbok strongman Frans Malherbe, who is on the bench against Leinster after leading the side against the Ospreys.
DHL Stormers team: Warrick Gelant, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Dan du Plessis, Damian Willemse, Ben Loader, Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies, Evan Roos, Ben-Jason Dixon, Marcel Theunissen, Ruben van Heerden, Salmaan Moerat (captain), Neethling Fouche, Joseph Dweba, Brok Harris. Replacements: Andre-Hugo Venter, Kwenzo Blose, Frans Malherbe, Connor Evans, Willie Engelbrecht, Hacjivah Dayimani, Stefan Ungerer, Wandisile Simelane.