WELWITSCHIAS coach Lyn Jones has made nine changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s Currie Cup First Division match against the Border Bulldogs at the BCM Stadium in East London.
Injuries and the unavailability of players has led to quite a shake-up in the team, with five of the changes coming amongst the forwards and four amongst the backs.
There will be a whole new front row of AJ de Klerk, Obert Nortje and Hauta Veii, while Thomasau Forbes replaces Rohan Kitshoff at flank, and Thomas Kali replaces Christo van der Merwe at eighthman.
Amongst the backs, captain Eugene Jantjies moves to fly half in place of Theuns Kotze, who is unavailable, while TC Kisting takes over at scrum half.
Johan Tromp returns at right wing in place of Russel van Wyk, while Darryl de la Harpe comes in for the injured JC Greyling at centre.
Last weekend, the Welwitschias lost a close match 36-32 against SWD Eagles, and Jones could not hide his disappointment at losing the match.
“We were very disappointed to lose that match. We scored 32 points, but gave away six tries. We deserved to win the match, but because of silly errors we gave away soft tries. We showed again that we can beat any team, but also lose to any side in the competition,” he said.
The Welwitschias should have a good chance of beating the Bulldogs, and are currently just above them on the log. The Welwitschias are sixth on 11 points, while the Bulldogs are seventh on nine points. The Griffons lead the log on 25 points, followed by the Leopards on 23 and SWD Eagles on 17.
The Griffons and the Leopards are assured of reaching the semifinals, but with only two rounds of matches remaining, the other two semifinal spots are still up for grabs. The Eagles, Hino Valke (16), Boland Cavaliers (14) and even the Welwitschias (11) all still have a chance of making the playoffs.
Jones said the Welwitschias are capable of beating the Bulldogs.
“The Bulldogs are where they are for a reason, because they are not as good as the Griffons or the Leopards. We can beat them, but we can also easily lose, it just depends on which team pitches and how well we play on the day,” he said.
The Welwitschias squad is as follows:
Mahco Prinsloo, Johan Tromp, Darryl de la Harpe, Lesley Klim, David Philander, Eugene Jantjies, TC Kisting, Thomas Kali, Max Katjijeko, Thomasau Forbes, Mahepisa Tjeriko, Ruan Ludick, AJ de Klerk, Obert Nortje and Hauta Veii.
The substitutes are: Cameron Klassen, Heinrich Smit, Des Sethie, Bigman Kaura, Nelius Theron, James Marx and Adriaan Booysen.
