The DHL Stormers will be celebrating several individual milestones when they play against the Harlequins from London in Saturday’s Heineken Champions Cup round of 16 match at the DHL Stadium in Cape Town.
Centre Dan du Plessis, lock Ernst van Rhyn and reserve prop Neethling Fouche are all set to play their 50th game for the Stormers, while Brok Harris will be registering his 250th game if you combine the appearances he has made for the Stormers with those he has made for Western Province.
Coach John Dobson has unsurprisingly rewarded the team that drew with Leinster in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship last weekend by keeping changes to a minimum. The main change is the anticipated switch of Damian Willemse back to fullback now that Ruhan Nel is available again after his wife gave birth to a baby girl this past week.
Nel slotting back into the team in his regular No13 outside centre jersey means that his centre partner Du Plessis will celebrate his half century occasion in his preferred position of inside centre. The only other change to the starting team backline comes at scrumhalf, with Hershel Jantjies back in the No9 for Paul de Wet, who plays off the bench.
Willemse’s inclusion in the No15 jersey means there is no space in the starting team this week for Clayton Blommetjies, but the former Cheetahs star has been included on the bench, from where he could play an important impact role later in the game. Dobson has stuck with the six/two Bomb Squad split between forwards and backs on the bench, with the group including two impactful looseforwards in Marcell Theunissen and Willie Engelbrecht.
Gary Porter, one of the Stormers players who did well for Western Province in an otherwise losing cause against the Sharks in a Currie Cup game last Sunday, comes in onto that bench for Van Rhyn, who has returned to the starting team’s second row in place of Ruben van Heerden. Former Sharks player Van Heerden is ineligible for this game as he played Champions Cup earlier in the season for Exeter Chiefs, who he was contracted to until being released to the Stormers in late January.
“We have a home knock-out Heineken Champions Cup match, which is something that dreams are made of, so we are determined to go out and give off our best,” said Dobson.
“It will also be fantastic to recognise the contributions made by Dan, Ernst and Brok, who have also made much contribution to the team over the years.”
DHL Stormers team: Damian Willemse, Suleiman Hartzenberg, Ruhan Nel, Dan du Plessis, Seabelo Senatla, Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies, Hacjivah Dayimani, Ben-Jason Dixon, Deon Fourie, Marvin Orie, Ernst van Rhyn, Frans Malherbe, Joseph Dweba, Steven Kitshoff (captain).
Replacements: JJ Kotze, Brok Harris, Neethling Fouche, Gary Porter, Willie Engelbrecht, Marcell Theunissen, Paul de Wet, Clayton Blommetjies.