Cape Town – Western Province will hope to end a four-match losing streak when they take on the Pumas at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday (3pm kickoff).
WP have lost their last four Currie Cup games, having come up short against the Bulls, Sharks, Griquas and Cheetahs – although the last three matches were away from home – while their lone victory came in the competition opener against the Lions.
Province showed some real fight in their last encounter, the 24-17 defeat to the unbeaten Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, and coach Jerome Paarwater will hope that the effort put into that game will see them rewarded with a victory against the Pumas on Wednesday.
Paarwater made a single change to his starting line-up on Tuesday, with experienced scrumhalf Godlen Masimla coming off the bench into the No 9 jersey in place of Thomas Bursey.
Enterprising fullback Tristan Leyds has also recovered from a head knock during the Cheetahs match in time to take on the Pumas.
Tighthead prop Sazi Sandi is also back after missing the WP-Cheetahs and Stormers-Cardiff games, and will look to make a big impact in the second half alongside loosehead Ali Vermaak.
“It is great for us to be back at DHL Stadium for what is an important game in our campaign. We have got some continuity in the team, and hopefully we will see some good cohesion in the combinations as we play in front of our crowd again on Wednesday,” Paarwater said.
Western Province Team:
15 Tristan Leyds 14 Sergeal Petersen 13 Mnombo Zwelendaba 12 Cornel Smit 11 Angelo Davids 10 Kade Wolhuter 9 Godlen Masimla 8 Keke Morabe 7 Marcel Theunissen 6 Nama Xaba (captain) 5 Ben-Jason Dixon 4 Connor Evans 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko 2 JJ Kotze 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Bench: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela 17 Ali Vermaak 18 Sazi Sandi 19 Simon Miller 20 Jarrod Taylor 21 Thomas Bursey 22 Tim Swiel 23 Rikus Pretorius.
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