The Stormers have made minimal changes to their match 23 for their Champions Cup opener against English Premiership side Bristol Bears.
Powerful Stormers eighthman Evan Roos will make his first appearance of the season after late injuries ruled him out of two of their three games so far this season. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
Eighthman Evan Roos will make his first appearance of the season for the Stormers after being named to start in a powerful match 23 for their Champions Cup opener against Bristol Bears at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
Roos’ return from a hamstring injury is timely, with Hacjivah Dayimani, who has enjoyed a brilliant start to the season, ruled out due to concussion, while the only other changes from the team that beat the Sharks over the past weekend see an all-new front row come into the starting line-up.
Vernon Matongo, JJ Kotzé and Sazi Sandi will run out just behind captain Ruhan Nel, with André-Hugo Venter, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Zachary Porthen set to make an impact from the replacements bench.
The starting backline is unchanged, with Warrick Gelant among the replacements this week, while the Springbok halfback pairing of Cobus Reinach and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu will continue to dictate proceedings in the important Champions Cup clash.
Director of Rugby John Dobson said that his team is determined to make a strong start to the competition.
“We saw last season how important collecting points in the pool phase is in the Champions Cup, which makes your home matches crucial,” explained Dobson.
Selection continuity
“We have kept a fair amount of continuity in selection as we look to build on some of the momentum from last week’s win. While it is disappointing to lose Hacjivah to concussion, we are able to call on Evan, who is raring to go, along with the new front row.
“The team is still buzzing from the incredible atmosphere created by our fans last week and we can’t wait to experience it all again as we take on a strong Bristol side that showed they understand what it takes to win in South Africa with a notable victory at Loftus Versfeld last season.”
Getting a bonus point against Bristol will be vitally important for the Stormers, after they were shown how valuable they are in their previous Champions Cup campaign.
Despite winning three of their four pool games last season, they were pipped to second place in the pool by Harlequins, who also won three matches but finished one point ahead of them.
That forced the Stormers to travel to France for their Champions Cup last 16 match, where they fell to an agonising one-point defeat against Toulon.
Due to EPCR competition rules the Stormers match day squad will only be officially announced at 2pm on Friday, and thus changes may be made up until that time.
Stormers starting XV
Damian Willemse, Seabelo Senatla, Ruhan Nel (capt), Jonathan Roche, Leolin Zas, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach, Evan Roos, Siya Kolisi, Paul de Villiers, JD Schickerling, Adré Smith, Sazi Sandi, JJ Kotzé, Vernon Matongo.
Bench: André-Hugo Venter, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Zachary Porthen, Connor Evans, Riley Norton, Deon Fourie, Haashim Pead, Warrick Gelant.
