Damian Willemse in Stormers starting XV after remarkable recovery from injury

Damian Willemse has made a remarkable recovery from injury and will start for the Stormers in Saturday's United Rugby Championship semi-final against Ulster at Cape Town Stadium.

The Springbok back missed last weekend's 28-17 quarter-final win over Edinburgh due to an arm injury he picked up in the Stormers' final league match against Scarlets in Wales.

The initial fears were that Willemse would be out for six to eight weeks but subsequent scans have showed marked improvement.

Willemse will start at inside centre in place of Rikus Pretorius, who got injured early in the Edinburgh match. Sacha Mngomezulu, who performed well as Pretorius' replacement last weekend, retains his spot on the bench.

Dobson said having Willemse back for the semi-final is a huge boost.

"Damian is another phenomenal player and credit must go to him and the medical staff for getting him ready for this game. He is a world-class performer who would make a difference to any team."

Willemse's inclusion is the only change to the Stormers team.

Elsewhere, winger Seabelo Senatla will play his 50th game for the Stormers.

Senatla made his Stormers debut in 2014 and has also had a glittering Sevens career, scoring a record 230 tries for the Blitzboks.

The speedster missed the first four games of the URC season due to injury, but is still third on the try-scorers list with nine tries thus far.

He is also one of five Stormers players in Saturday's starting line-up that were named in the URC 2021/22 Dream Team, along with Willemse, Evan Roos, Leolin Zas and Warrick Gelant.

Dobson paid tribute to Senatla.

"Seabelo is an incredibly gifted athlete who would have reached this milestone long ago if he wasn't also one of the greatest Sevens players of all time. He deserves all