The Pumas and Stormers have both made changes ahead of their Super Rugby Unlocked clash in Nelspruit on Friday.
Three changes to Stormers
Two of the changes are in the tight five and there is one injury-enforced change in the Stormers backline for the first-ever match between these two teams.
Winger Edwill van der Merwe starts in place of the injured Sergeal Petersen, while in the second row Chris van Zyl gets a start in a rotational switch and Leon Lyons will earn his first Stormers cap at loosehead prop.
Springboks frontrankers Steven Kitshoff and Scarra Ntubeni have been isolated according to COVID-19 protocols after coming into contact with someone who has tested positive for the virus.
Stormers head coach John Dobson said that the trip to Nelspruit will be a good chance for his team to show what they learned from their opening match.
“We would like to see growth and improvement in certain areas of our game and an away game in Nelspruit will be a good test of that,” said Dobson.
“We have some exciting players coming into the mix this week, so we are looking forward to seeing what they have to offer as we keep building.”
Pumas make one change
AJ le Roux is set to make his debut for the Pumas after he was named at hooker for the round three visit of the Stormers.
Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse has also made two changes to the bench for their match against the Springbok-laden team from Cape Town.
Super Rugby Unlocked teams: Pumas vs Stormers
Pumas
15 Devon Williams, 14 Neil Maritz, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Wayne van der Bank, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Eddie Fouche, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Jeandré Rudolph, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Francois Kleinhans, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren (captain), 4 Darrien Landsburg, 3 Ruan Kramer, 2 AJ le Roux, 1 Morgan Naude. Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Liam Hendricks, 18 Heath Backhouse, 19 Phumzile Maqondwana, 20 Dian Badenhorst, 21 Neil Marais, 22 Ali Mgijima, 23 Ignatius Prinsloo.
Stormers
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Rikus Pretorius, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Damian Willemse, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Chris van Zyl, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Leon Lyons. Replacements (from): 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Nama Xaba, 21 Jaco Coetzee, 22 Godlen Masimla, 23 Michal Haznar, 24 Tim Swiel, 25 Tristan Leyds.
Match information – Phakisa Pumas v DHL Stormers
Date: Friday, 23 October 2020
Time: 19h00
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
Assistant Referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron, Griffin Colby
Television Match Official: AJ Jacobs
TV: SuperSport Grandstand and Rugby
