Salmaan Moerat to lead Stormers at Loftus

Lock Salmaan Moerat will captain the Stormers in their preparation series encounter against the Bulls in Pretoria on Friday, the Western Caoe side has confirmed.

Moerat is one of several players to come into the starting line-up for the north-south encounter at Loftus Versfeld.

In the backline, Damian Willemse starts at fullback and links up with wings Leolin Zas and Edwill van der Merwe, while Rikus Pretorius comes into the midfield and Paul de Wet makes a start at scrumhalf.

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Up front, Moerat will partner David Meihuizen in the second row and there is an all-new front row of Leon Lyons, Chad Solomon and Sazi Sandi.

There is also significant experience on the bench, with the likes of JD Schickerling, Herschel Jantjies and Tim Swiel all getting their first run in the series.

Ernst van Rhyn, who captained the Stormers from the lock position in the 38-32 win over Griquas in Kimberley, moves back to flank.

Skills coach Labeeb Levy will take the head coach’s reins for this match as regular incumbent John Dobson takes a back seat.

“It has been a good week of preparation so far and we are focused on showing what we have worked on when we take the field on Friday,” Levy said.

“We have some talented players coming into the mix this week, along with some players that have really taken their opportunities in the previous two games, so we want to find some fluency as a unit.”

Stormers

Damian Willemse, Edwill van der Merwe, Ruhan Nel, Rikus Pretorius, Leolin Zas, Kade Wolhuter, Paul de Wet, Juarno Augustus, Ernst van Rhyn, Marcel Theunissen, David Meihuizen, Salmaan Moerat (captain), Sazi Sandi, Chad Solomon, Leon Lyons

Bench (from): Scarra Ntubeni, Ali Vermaak, Neethling Fouche, JD Schickerling, Johan du Toit, Evan Roos, Herschel Jantjies, Tim Swiel, Chris Schreuder, Cornel Smit

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