Stormers ring changes for Ospreys match-up

Young rising Stormers star Sacha Mngomezulu has been benched after a fantastic performance against Zebre last week, for the teams United Rugby Championship (URC) clash  against Ospreys at the Swansea Stadium on Friday night (kick-off 8:35pm).

Mngomezulu played a starring role against Zebre, taking the kicking duties and contributing 22 of the teams 37 points through three penalties, four conversions and a try, but he will now play off the bench as Dan du Plessis returns to the inside centre berth.

Flyhalf Manie Libbok will then retake the kicking duties, after he chose not to last week due to a knee niggle, which he admitted he didn’t want to exacerbate.

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Other changes to the starting side see Clayton Blommetjies in at fullback for Damian Willemse who has been sent home to rest, Paul de Wet back at scrumhalf, Nama Xaba starts his first game of the season at flank, Marvin Orie returns to lock and last season’s top try scorer Leolin Zas is back on the left wing.

Springbok prop Steven Kitshoff is set to make his first Stormers appearance off the bench after joining the side in the week, while hooker Joseph Dweba also came over with him and will also be looking to make an impact in the second half.

“Leolin was one of the stand-out players for us last season until he was injured in the semifinal, so to have him back in the team along with the likes of Clayton, Dan, Paul, Hacjivah, Nama and Marvin is exciting for us,” said Stormers coach John Dobson.

“Then of course to have players of Joseph and Steven’s quality coming off the bench is also something we are looking forward to.

“It is a short turnaround this week playing on Friday night and we also lost a day travelling from Italy, so we are going to have to really lift ourselves against an Ospreys team which will be full of internationals having rested some of them last weekend.”

Perfect star

Although the Stormers have yet to play at their best, they have enjoyed a perfect start points wise to their URC defence with three bonus point wins on the trot and they will be eager to pick up a fourth bonus point win over Ospreys.

Having enjoyed solid home wins over Connacht and Edinburgh, the Stormers began their three match European tour with a decent win over Zebre in Italy this past Saturday and they will be keen to build on that momentum ahead of their final tour match against Cardiff next week.

Stormers: Clayton Blommetjies, Angelo Davids, Alapati Leuia, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas, Manie Libbok, Paul de Wet, Evan Roos, Hacjivah Dayimani, Nama Xaba, Marvin Orie, Salmaan Moerat (c), Neethling Fouche, Andre-Hugo Venter, Ali Vermaak

Bench: Joseph Dweba, Steven Kitshoff, Brok Harris, Ernst van Rhyn, Marcel Theunissen, Willie Engelbrecht, Godlen Masimla, Sacha Mngomezulu