Allister Coetzee, the DHL Stormers head coach, has named his team to take on the Toyota Free State Cheetahs in Saturday’s pre-season friendly in Bloemfontein (kick-off 17h00).
Release
In the absence of Schalk Burger, Andries Bekker and Jean de Villiers, fellow Springbok Duane Vermeulen will lead this DHL Stormers XV into battle. Burger, Bekker and De Villiers – and the other injured or sick players – are all expected to feature against Boland next weekend.
Even without the trio of Burger, Bekker and De Villiers, eighthman Vermeulen will be one of seven capped Springboks in action for the Stormers on Saturday – including new faces Jaco Taute (at fullback) and Pat Cilliers (from the bench) and also experienced wing Bryan Habana, who will run out as vice-captain.
In all, nine players in the 24-man squad have not played for the DHL Stormers before, with Taute, Damian de Allende and new hooker Martin Bezuidenhout amongst the newbies in the starting line-up.
On the bench, meanwhile, youngsters Stephan Coetzee, Rayn Smid and Pat Howard (all from last year’s DHL WP Under-21 team) will be hoping for their first taste of action, along with other new faces, Ruan Botha and Michael Rhodes who moved to Cape Town last year.
* Saturday’s match will be televised live on SuperSport One. The Stormers will start their 2013 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign against the Bulls on Friday, February 22.
The DHL Stormers team to take on the Toyota Free State Cheetahs is as follows:
15. Jaco Taute
14. Gio Aplon
13. Juan de Jongh
12. Damian de Allende
11. Bryan Habana (vice-captain)
10. Kurt Coleman
9. Louis Schreuder
8. Duane Vermeulen (captain)
7. Don Armand
6. Nizaam Carr
5. De Kock Steenkamp
4. Eben Etzebeth
3. Frans Malherbe
2. Martin Bezuidenhout
1. Steven Kitshoff
Replacements (from):
16. Stephan Coetzee
17. Pat Cilliers
18. Ruan Botha
19. Michael Rhodes
20. Rayn Smid
21. Dewaldt Duvenage
22. Pat Howard
23. Gerhard van den Heever
24. Joe Pietersen
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
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January 31st, 2013 at 12:52 am
Yowzer… other than a few positions… Stormers got some serious depth…
January 31st, 2013 at 8:03 am
Coach Naka Drotske playing Messerschmitt-Willie LeRoux in a meaningless warm-up would be akin to taking a Bentley out on safari.
February 1st, 2013 at 7:02 pm
Ruan Botha….. FUCK SARU
February 2nd, 2013 at 7:27 pm
Well done to the Cheetahs, this will be a great confidence boost for them after last week.
February 4th, 2013 at 8:40 am
It did not really help them last year?
February 4th, 2013 at 11:03 am
Reply to Vetgesmeerde Blits @ 7:27 pm: DOn’t know how playing second string teams can be a confidence booster, people read to much into these games, this is practise games and must be seen like that, cracked myself when I saw how the cheetahs went on after kicking the final kick to win the game, looked like they won teh Super Rugby.
Cheetahs will struggle again this year like the kings will and the Stormers, Bulls and Sharks will be their and their abaout.
Cheetahs do not have the backup simple as that.
February 4th, 2013 at 12:52 pm
I recall in 2006 the Stormers fans squealing in joy when they beat the Bulls in an SR warm up…
February 4th, 2013 at 2:56 pm
Reply to Jacques(Bunny)Die wat nie hier is nie is elders!! @ 11:03 am:
This was hardly a second string Stormers team. 8 of the starting 15 have a very good chance of being first choice in their respective positions this year. If anything the Cheetahs team were missing more first choice players than the Stormers.
If you think the Cheetahs will not be a more confident after beating the Currie Cup and Conference champions you are surely mistaken. By playing and winning teams build momentum and confidence a loss to the Stormers would have made it 2 losses from 2.
I agree that you shouldn’t read too much into these games, but they do mean something.
It was interesting to read than Adriaan Strauss reckons this years Cheetah squad is the strongest he has ever been part of. Lets hope the can end better than 10th.
February 4th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
Reply to DavidS @ 12:52 pm: Hehe, that was our teams final that year.