WP boosted by Stormers reinforcements for trip to Kimberley

Western Province have been boosted by the inclusion of a few key players for Friday's Currie Cup clash with Griquas in Kimberley on Friday.

There are five players in the forward pack that did not feature in WP's 35-20 defeat to the Sharks in Durban a fortnight ago.

Prop Neethling Fouche, hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, lock Ben-Jason Dixon and loose forwards Marcel Theunissen and Nama Xaba all come into the starting line-up.

Fouche makes his return from injury, while Venter, Dixon, Theunissen and captain Xaba will all get some much needed game time having featured among the replacements for the Stormers in recent weeks.

Loose forward Junior Pokomela will also make his WP debut from the bench, having recently recovered from injury.

The only change to the backline sees Kade Wolhuter, who normally plays flyhalf, make his first start of the season at fullback, with Sergeal Petersen shifting to right wing.

WP coach Jerome Paarwater said the players were eager to get back to winning ways.

"Playing the Griquas in Kimberley is never easy, so we will have to be as accurate as possible for the full 80 minutes up there.

"We have had two weeks to work on a few aspects of our game and have worked closely with the Stormers squad, which has been good for us.

"The guys coming in are all hungry to show what they have to offer and we are looking forward to seeing how some of the new combinations go," the coach said.

WP are sixth on the seven-team Currie Cup log, with only one win from three games.

Friday's clash in Kimberley kicks off at 19:00.

Griquas

15 Rynhardt Jonker, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Jonathan Francke, 12 Alex-Zander du Plessis, 11 Luther Obi, 10 Theo Boshoff, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Sibabalo Qoma, 7 Michael Amiras, 6 Niel Otto (captain), 5 Derik