Jantjies’ absence is ‘part of the plan’, as Dobson rotates Province scrumhalves

The omission of Springbok scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies from the Western Province side for this weekend’s big Currie Cup clash against the Lions was always part of their plan, according to Province coach John Dobson.

In one of three changes to the WP team, Jantjies is being “rested” this week, allowing Godlen Masimla to start and for Paul de Wet to come on to the bench.

“We’ve got three very similar scrumhalves, which is nice for us, and we haven’t given enough game time to the other two,” Dobson said.

“So it was pre-planned two weeks ago that Godlen and Paul would play this game, and Paul and Herschel will play next week, so we couldn’t go back on the plan just because we didn’t get the result last week against the Bulls.”

Dobson also explained why he had opted for a new midfield combination in Dan du Plessis and Ruhan Nel, probably Province’s best centre.

“Ruhan has been our top No 13, and coming back from a long-term injury he started off the bench last week, while both Dan du Plessis and Rikus Pretorius took knocks last week and Rikus is the sorer of the two, so we’ll rotate those guys over the next few weeks,” he said.

The most debatable point was probably the shifting of Damian Willemse back to fullback from flyhalf after a long-term knee injury to Bok No 15 Warrick Gelant.

New No 10 Tim Swiel was set to take over the kicks at goal at Ellis Park.

“Obviously Warrick’s injury was a blow to us,” Dobson said.

“The next fullback in the group is probably Tristan Leyds, who we are really excited about, but he is still in development phase.

“Damian has played Test rugby at 15 and he played against England at Twickenham there, so it’s not new to him and a lot of people feel he should have played there anyway.

“So it’s a logical change and Tim Swiel has really played well for us.”

Western Province: Damian Willemse, Seabelo Senatla, Ruhan Nel, Dan du
Plessis, Angelo Davids, Tim Swiel, Godlen Masimla, Juarno Augustus, Ernst van Rhyn, Siya Kolisi (capt), JD Schickerling, Salmaaan Moerat, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff.

Bench (from): Scarra Ntubeni, Ali Vermaak, Neethling Fouche, David
Meihuizen, Marcel Theunissen, Johan du Toit, Paul de Wet, Tristan Leyds, Jaco Coetzee, Kade Wolhuter, Rikus Pretorius.

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