Ruled out: Gio Aplon
Western Province speedster Gio Aplon has been ruled out of Saturday's Currie Cup clash against the Golden Lions at Newlands.
The discarded Bok sustained a grade one ankle ligament tear and could be out for as many as three weeks.
In more bad news for the Province backline, injury-plagued pivot Gary van Aswegen rolled his ankle at practice and will be sidelined for the rest of the season.
"There was a collision and Gary fell awkwardly," said WP coach Allister Coetzee.
"It's the same injury, the same ankle, that he did in the Super Rugby competition. He will go for further scans to determine exactly how long he will be out for, but that's his [Currie Cup] season done."
Damian de Allende moves up from the bench and starts in jersey 11 for the injured Aplon, with Pat Howard on the bench as cover. Berton Klaasen provides cover on the bench for the injured Van Aswegen.
Tyrone Holmes returns to the starting XV after serving a one-week suspension for punching. As a result, Don Armand moves back to lock, with Wilhelm van der Sluys dropping to the bench.
Coetzee has stuck with the same U21 front-row combination of Frans Malherbe, Scarra Ntubeni and Steven Kitshoff, that started against Griquas last weekend and has again opted for two props on the bench in Deon Carstens and Brok Harris.
Western Province: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Damian de Allende, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Jebb Sinclair, 7 Tyrone Holmes, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacement: 16 Deon Carstens, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Helmut Lehmann, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Berton Klaasen, 22 Pat Howard.
Date: Saturday, September 29
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 14.00 (12.00 GMT)
Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referees: Christie du Preez, Linston Manuels
TMO: Deon van Blommestein
Comments
Rugbyphile says...
Love that young team - amazing the number of injuries WP have and the talent that emerges. BTW Deon Fourie should be in the SA team ahead of Liebenberg---
Posted 01:18 27th September 2012