Catch up on everything you need to know leading up to the Vodacom United Rugby Championship clash between the DHL Stormers and Scarlets in Cape Town on Friday night.
STATE OF THE URC: Red-hot Stormers, Bulls reload
#STOvSCA
- Lock Gary Porter will make his DHL Stormers debut
- Scott Williams returns at centre while Dan Davis makes his first start of the season for Scarlets
DHL Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Marcel Theunissen, 6 Junior Pokomela, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (c), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Subs: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Nama Xaba, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Jean-Luc du Plessis.
Scarlets: 15 Johnny McNicholl, 14 Tom Rogers, 13 Jonathan Davies (c), 12 Scott Williams, 11 Ryan Conbeer, 10 Dan Jones, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Aaron Shingler, 5 Tom Price, 4 Sam Lousi, 3 Harri O’Connor, 2 Daf Hughes, 1 Steff Thomas.
Subs: 16 Taylor Davies, 17 Kemsley Mathias, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Blade Thomson, 20 Tomás Lezana, 21 Archie Hughes, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Steff Evans.
BY THE NUMBERS: Stormers vs Scarlets
Stormers Head Coach John Dobson said: “The players getting an opportunity this week have all been training incredibly hard all season and are determined to make the most of this game. We are pleased with the depth we have built already this season and this is also a side that features plenty of experience in key positions, so we are excited to see how they go. This selection forms part of a clear strategy to prepare ourselves to be competitive across the various competitions we are involved in this season. We have an exciting young generation of young players coming through and it will be a big challenge for them against a team which boasts almost 300 Test caps, but we are looking forward to it.”
Scarlets Head Coach Dwayne Peel said: “We have had a good week here in Cape Town and are looking forward to getting back out there. We are not where we want to be in the table, there is no hiding from that, but we have an exciting block ahead of us. We need to climb the ladder in the URC and then have a good start in Europe and it starts on Friday. When you play out here you have to match the South African physicality. Stormers are a team who like to play expansive rugby, but first and foremost we have to match that physicality. We also need to be more ruthless when it comes to taking opportunities, which we haven’t really done in the first block of matches. We had a great game against the Stormers at Parc y Scarlets at the end of last season. We have to make sure we show that mettle again.”
Photo: ©Shaun Roy/BackpagePix
