Loose forward Willie Engelbrecht will make his DHL Western Province debut in the Currie Cup game against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Friday.
The North-South clash will kick-off at 19h05 on Friday as DHL Western Province look to build on their encouraging win against the Fidelity ADT Lions last week.
Engelbrecht, who lifted the Currie Cup last year as Airlink Pumas captain, comes in at blindside flank, with Ben-Jason Dixon on a replacements bench which also features loose forward Hacjivah Dayimani, who makes his return from injury.
There are two rotational changes in the front row as hooker Andre-Hugo Venter and tighthead prop Sazi Sandi come into the starting line-up and Scarra Ntubeni and Lee-Marvin Mazibuko take their place among the replacements.
In the backline Paul de Wet starts at scrumhalf, while injuries to wings Duncan Saal and Angelo Davids mean that Suleiman Hartzenberg and Ruhan Nel come into the starting XV.
DHL Western Province Head Coach John Dobson said that the players coming in this week are all keen to make their mark.
“There are some rotational changes and a few that were forced by injuries and we expect all of them to add something on Friday night.
“It is a second away game in just six days on the highveld to start the season, so we will need to be at our best to get the result we are looking for,” he said.
DHL Western Province: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 11 Ruhan Nel, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Connor Evans, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Andre-Hugo Venter, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Dylan de Leeuw, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Bruce Sherwood.
