Africa-Press – South-Africa. Star fetcher Deon Fourie is back in the Stormers starting XV for Saturday’s URC quarter-final against the Bulls in Cape Town.
Fourie had been sidelined for a month since suffering a fractured eye socket in the Stormers’ Champions Cup last 16 win over Harlequins on 1 April.
A fit-again Leolin Zas also starts at left wing in place of Seabelo Senatla, who suffered concussion in the 38-22 win over Benetton in Stellenbosch on 21 April.
Elsewhere, centre Ruhan Nel, scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies, hooker Joseph Dweba and prop Frans Malherbe also return to the starting line-up, having featured off the bench in the final league match of the season against Benetton.
The new faces among the replacements are lock Gary Porter and utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who recently starred for Western Province in the Currie Cup.
Stormers head coach John Dobson said they were looking forward to playing in front of a big crowd at Cape Town Stadium. Close to 40 000 tickets had been sold on Friday morning.
“We will have our biggest crowd of the season for a North-South knock-out game, so this is something everyone has been looking forward to.
“It is fantastic to have the likes of Deon and Leolin back in the mix for this one, they have both made such a big impact for us in recent times.
“We are very proud of what we have already achieved this season as our goal was to broaden depth across the squad and consolidate our position. To have hosted a Champions Cup playoff, retain the SA Shield and have a home United Rugby Championship quarter-final on top of capping as many players as we have means a lot to us.
“We are really excited about the future and the new generation of players coming through, but right now it’s all about Saturday.
“We want to play the kind of rugby that has got us into this position and repay the incredible support we get with a worthy performance,” Dobson said.
Saturday’s clash kicks off at 15:30.
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