WP change three for Cheetahs

Nic Groom: Starts at 9

Western Province coach Allister Coetzee has made three changes to his starting XV for Saturday's clash with the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

Two of the changes has been injury-enforced - to the side that picked up a 42-6 win over the Blue Bulls at Newlands last weekend.

Nic Groom - a try-scorer last week - comes in for the injured Dewaldt Duvenage (broken fibula) at scrum-half, whilst Damian de Allende will get his first Currie Cup start in the absence of injured left-wing Ederies Arendse (shoulder).

The final change to the starting XV is part of coach Coetzee's rotational policy, with Brok Harris earning a start at tighthead prop and Frans Malherbe moving down to the bench.

Joining Malherbe on the bench is SA U20 back Pat Howard, who comes in for De Allende; yet another WP U21 player taking the step up to the senior ranks in 2012.

"We have a young team so we need to ensure that these players, despite their inexperience, are able to match that intensity from the Bulls game," said Coetzee.

"The Cheetahs will be tough, especially in Bloemfontein, but we just want to keep improving in every facet of play - like we did last week."

Western Province:15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Damian de Allende, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Rynhardt Elstadt, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Siyabonga Ntubeni, 1 Deon Carstens.
Replacements:16 Steven Kitshoff, 17 Frans Malherbe, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Helmut Lehmann, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Patrick Howard, 22 Kurt Coleman.

Date: Saturday, September 8
Venue: Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein
Kick-off: 19.10 (17.10 GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Joey Salmans, François Groenewald
TMO: Gerrie Coetzee

Rugby Union betting odds