WP shake up pack for Pumas Currie Cup tussle

Western Province coach Jerome Paarwater has made four changes to his forward pack for their Currie Cup encounter with Pumas in Nelspruit on Friday night.

Three of the changes are in the front row and the other is at lock, while the backline is unchanged from the one which started in the 28-21 loss to the Cheetahs on 15 April.

There is an all-new front row of props Kwenzo Blose and Neethling Fouche and hooker Jacques van Zyl, while the other change sees Ernst van Rhyn start at lock.

Hooker HP van Schoor and wing Ebenezer Tshimanga are both in line to make their senior WP debuts from a bench which also features Stormers loose forward Junior Pokomela.

Paarwater says they've worked hard behind the scenes to improve.

"This latest break has given us another chance to work on a few things and hopefully we will see the result of that on Friday night.

"The players and coaches continue to work hard and we know that we will have to be at our best to come away with a win."

WP are sixth on the seven-team Currie Cup standings, with only one win from eight matches. The Pumas are fifth with four wins, 10 points ahead of WP.

Friday's clash at Mbombela Stadium kicks off at 19:00.

15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Timothy Swiel, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Nama Xaba (captain), 5 Ben-Jason Dixon, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Jacques van Zyl, 1 Kwenzo Blose

Substitutes: 16 HP van Schoor, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Simon Miller, 20 Junior Pokomela, 21 Bobby Alexander, 22 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 23 Ebenezer Tshimanga