WP looking to broaden URC base in Toyota Challenge clash with Cheetahs

The DHL Western Province XV chosen to face the Toyota Cheetahs in the first ever Toyota Challenge match in Bloemfontein on Saturday evening has been selected around the twin purposes of giving young players a chance and broadening the Stormers’ base.

The Cheetahs are of course not participating in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, which is why they have organised the series of challenge matches in conjunction with Toyota South Africa. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on Supersport 210 and will kick off after the conclusion of the Springbok Autumn International Series clash with Scotland in Edinburgh.

According to the press release from the Cheetahs, the Toyota Challenge is a new kind of tournament: one where every victory will earn a prize of R250 000 and where players have been incentivised around prizes being awarded for individual excellence. Players making the most tackles, line breaks and turnovers on the ground will walk away with cash prizes.

The Player of the Match will win R10 000 while the support who posts the most social media posts during the game will with the hashtag ToyotaLegendSupport will also win R10 000 and be crowned Supporter of the Match. Spectators will be returning to the Toyota Stadium for the first time in 20 months, although the crowd is limited to 2000 due to Covid restrictions dictated by the government.

DIFFERENT IMPERATIVES FOR WP AND CHEETAHS

For the two teams though it won't just be fun and games and an opportunity to grab individual cash prizes. For the Cheetahs, with integration into a top level international tournament proving difficult for them, the imperative of these games is to keep them match fit and growing in preparation for the Carling Currie Cup, with next year’s edition of the oldest domestic competition in the world set to kick off in January.

For WP the goal is slightly different - they will want start bringing players through in preparation for their own Currie Cup challenge, but also they want to try and assimilate as many players in their wider group as possible into the strides forward that the Stormers made to their game plan in the away leg of the URC.

After going in slightly under the radar, the Stormers emerged as the top performing South African side in the first phase of the URC which was made up of each local franchise playing four games overseas. Admittedly, with none of the local teams winning more than one game, that is not really something to boast about, but the Stormers did show encouraging signs of embracing the exciting brand of running, off-load orientated rugby that is so often spoken about as the goal in the Cape.

“We started to build on quite a few things in the URC, there were several areas of our game we started to look at and we felt we made good progress in and we want to build on that so that when the fringe players are called upon to play in the URC everyone is on the same page,” said Stormers backline/attack coach Dawie Snyman.

EXCITING SELECTIONS

There are some exciting selections the WP starting team, such as the promising young Junior Springbok flyhalf Sacha Mngomezulu, as well as the impressive young WP under-20 lock pairing of  Dylan de Leeuw and Connor Evans. Stormers forward coach Rito Hlungwani says the two locks will be watched particularly closely as there is still uncertainty over when Adre Smith, who was suspended for eight matches pending an appeal for an incident in the second URC match against Munster, will be able to play again. As it stands, he is out until February.

“My message to the two young locks is that they must grow up quickly. There are quite a few locks their age playing in the URC so age is no excuse,” said Hlungwani.

“It is a nice opportunity for them to show that they can call the lineouts. They are both very good young locks, and we want them to step up quickly because an opportunity to play in the URC may be just around the corner. We have a dearth of players who call the lineouts currently playing for us, and both these youngsters have been trained to do that so it is going to be interesting to see how they go. Dylan will start out calling and then Cornel will take over later.”

The match will provide an opportunity for Blitzbok star Seabelo Senatla to make his return from injury after missing the URC tour. Ironically Rosko Specman, who lines up for the Cheetahs, will be playing for the Stormers later in the URC, but with Edwill van der Merwe now at the Lions there is something for all the Stormers wings to play for.

Apart from Specman, the Cheetahs have several familiar faces in their ranks, including the recently returned from overseas Robert Ebersohn and the captain, No8 Aidon Davis. The Cheetahs are renowned for their attacking style of play and going wide to wide and the Stormers coaches are looking forward to the interesting test they will pose to the young Cape squad.

TOYOTA CHEETAHS: Cohen Jasper, Daniel Kasende, David Brits, Robert Ebersohn, Rosko Specman, Siya Masuku, Tian Meyer, Aidon Davids (captain), Thembelani Bholi, Gideon van der Merwe, Rynier Bernardo, Victor Sekekete, Beertjie van Vuuren, Wilmar Arnoldi, Alututhu Tshakweni.

Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Cameron Dawson, Handro Jacobs, Jeandre Labuscahagne, Oupa Mohoje, Zinedine Booysen, Brandon Thomson, Evardi Boshoff.

WESTERN PROVINCE XV: Tristan Leyds, Seabelo Senatla, Cornel Smith, Rikus Pretorius, Leolin Zas, Sacha Mngomezulu, Godlen Masimla, Marcel Theunissen, Nama Xaba (captain), JJ Kotze, Dylan de Leeuw, Connor Evans, Sazi Sandi, Andre-Hugo Venter, Leon Lyons.

Replacements: (from) Chad Solomons, Kwenzo Blose, Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, Jarrod Taylor, Romauld Ntumba, Simon Biller, Thomas Bursey, Paschal Ekeji, Mambo Mkhize, Litha Nkula.

Kick-off: 17.20 Live on Supersport 210.