What's the status on Bekker, Vermeulen, Duvenhage, Elstadt injuries? Could they be back for the final? Are Grant and FLouw also not available (overseas?)
Elstadt start practising this week and the only one maybe back for the final. Grant is on loan to Japan and will be back for the S15, Flo is at Bath, gone.
Great team this, Klaasen, vd Spuy, Coleman,Carr played for the senior side till the Bokke return and players like Etzebeth, Mbovane are pretty special talentsU21's excited by Florida Park clash
Semifinal time is upon us and whilst the DHL WP U19 and Currie Cup sides will be heading to Johannesburg, coach John Dobson and his U21 team will be in Cape Town hosting a semifinal at the unusual venue of Florida Park.
Ahead of the clash with the Sharks on Saturday, Dobson was satisfied with his team's preparations. He said: “We are happy with preparations so far. We had a good win against the Valke last week and it gave us the chance to try somethings before the semi. We are missing a few guys through injury and some are in the senior team, which is not ideal but we are looking forward to the clash.”
The last time these two teams clashes it was Saturday's visitors who came out 23-17 victors at a tightly fought game in Durban. Dobson, feels that his side need to improve on that performance if they are going to book their spot in the final.
He said: “The last time we played against the Sharks we were disappointed to lose the game. We were leading and we let it slip. They have a very good loose-forward trio who are excellent at competing for the ball at the breakdown and they like to keep the ball in hand. We are confident though that we can get the desired result this Saturday.”
With Allister Coetzee's men up in Gauteng for their semi, the U21's were unable to use DHL Newlands for their semifinal. However, the team have opted to play their game at Florida Park and Dobson is really excited of playing at a new home venue this weekend.
“When we were deciding where we were going to play this game, many of the guys suggested Florida Park and were keen on the idea. We decided to go ahead and play there and the team as a whole is very excited by the prospect of playing there. We have a training session there on Thursday and we hope that the fans come out to show their support for us this weekend.”
DHL WP's U21 clash with the Sharks kicks off at 17h30. Entrance to the game is free, so come down and show your support for our future stars in the semifinal.
DHL WP U21: Ryan Nell, JP du Plessis, Berton Klaasen, Michael van der Spuy, Tshotsho Mbovane, Kurt Coleman, Fred Muller, Nizaam Carr, Helmut Lehmann (C), Reuben Johannes, Reniel Hugo, Eben Etzebeth, Ruan Smith, Rob Herring, Brummer Badenhorst
Reserves: Scarra Ntubeni, JP Smith, ^ Roux, Wilhelm van der Sluys, Grant Hattingh, Andries Truter, Sam Lane
Maybe a impressive Sharks team but the Freestate certainly are in with a chance...
Johannesburg - Lions coach John Mitchell says his side are ready for anything Western Province might throw at them in their Currie Cup semi-final in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Mitchell has proven to be a wily character and he said his team would have a few surprises in their bag of tricks in an effort to outwit the visitors.
"At the end of the day they will come with a lot of resistance but ultimately we are equipped for them and we're ready for it," Mitchell said.
"So it's about us applying what we want to do and we've got some subtle things in our game plan.
"We haven't gone too far away from [our game plan], but we have a few subtle things that we are looking to introduce."
Province will be at full strength after coach Allister Coetzee named six Rugby World Cup Springboks for the clash, with Schalk Burger, Bryan Habana, Jean de Villiers, Jaque Fourie, Juan de Jongh and Gio Aplon all included on the team sheet.
"They haven't changed too much from what they've been doing," Mitchell said.
"They're a good attacking side and they are probably less predictable than the other sides because they like to play both sides on attack.
"They are like any side - if they can generate momentum then they can get what they want.
"Clearly their backline would have been strengthened and you can't ignore the impact of Schalk as an individual, but I reckon I have about three of them in the back row, so it is three against one."
Coetzee said it would be important for his charges to hold possession if they wanted to reach the final.
"There are no bonus points at stake in knockout rugby, so it's important that we keep possession," said Coetzee.
"We have selected a quality bench and we've done well this season in terms of bringing on players who make an impact."
The other semi-final tussle will see defending Currie Cup champions the Sharks taking on the Free State Cheetahs in Durban earlier in the day.
The coastal side have the best defensive record in this season's competition, while the Free Staters have the best try-scoring record.
The Cheetahs' attacking ability has not gone unnoticed in Durban with Sharks coach John Plumtree stressing the importance of his team's defence.
"They scored a few against us in Bloemfontein [in the league phase], so we understand that they get very excited about attack and they've got some outstanding attacking players," Plumtree said.
"Obviously that's a huge focus for us in terms of going through [to the final]."
Plumtree, however, said they would not compromise on other areas of their game by giving impetus only to defence.
"We want to attack well, we want our set-pieces to function and we need our kicking game," he said.
"So it's just about getting all the areas good and not one area great and others poor."
Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske said, while the Sharks were bolstered by the return of seven returning Springboks, his charges were familiar with their own game plan as they had played together the whole season.
Drotske said it would be key not to give momentum to the Sharks' big ball-carrying forwards like Willem Alberts, Bismarck du Plessis and Jean Deysel.
"There are two important things we need to do against the Sharks," he said.
"First of all we don't want to give players like Willem Alberts and Bismarck momentum and we can't give them turnover ball."