Centre Dan du Plessis will get his first taste of Super Rugby this season when he starts against the Kings on Saturday (3.05pm kickoff) and, since Du Plessis has a lot of his “old man’s qualities”, coach Robbie Fleck is excited to see how the son of Michael du Plessis performs in Port Elizabeth.
Du Plessis, who did well during the Stormers’ pre-season games, will start at inside centre in the place of the injured Dan Kriel, who replaced Damian de Allende in midfield after the Springbok’s injury that ruled him out for 12 weeks.
And the fact that Du Plessis will partner up with EW Viljoen, who made his Super Rugby bow against the Bulls, should excite Fleck even more.
“Dan du Plessis gets his chance now. He’s a quality player and he gets a good opportunity,” Fleck said.
“The way he runs is nice and upright. He can get the passes away, he’s got good vision and he’s got a good offloading game, and he runs nice and straight. So there’s lots of qualities there that Michael had. I’m quite excited about Dan.
“He came into our set-up last year and had a great game against the Cheetahs. He’s a quality player. Defensively he’s aggressive, just like his old man, so there’s plenty there to still work on, but I’m excited to see what he can do.”
There has also been a change in the captaincy, as Springbok lock and Stormers vice-captain Eben Etzebeth will lead the Stormers at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in the place of regular skipper Siya Kolisi, who is being rested this weekend.
In the backline, former Bulls back Bjorn Basson will make his Stormers debut, and Fleck said that the aerial master will help guide a relatively young Stormers backline.
“He’s been great. He came in at late notice and he’s had to work on his conditioning, but we all know the class of this individual. He’s a world-class player, we all know what his aerial skills are like and he brings a lot of experience to the set-up,” he said.
“We have a young backline, so he’ll bring experience there. He’s trained hard and this is a good opportunity to show what he can do for us.”
The Stormers will also have a different general this week in Robert du Preez, who will start alongside scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenage, with Jean-Luc du Plessis nursing a minor groin injury and Jano Vermaak being rested this weekend.
And while Seabelo Senatla will not be running out in PE as he is being rested this week, Stormers fans can look forward to another exciting youngster in Damian Willemse making his Super Rugby debut off the bench, along with scrumhalf Justin Phillips and loose forward Jaco Coetzee.
“Damian Willemse certainly is a player to watch for us going forward. Same thing with Jaco Coetzee. He was one of our top players in the pre-season games. So it will be good to see how they go,” Fleck said.
And although it would be fair for the Stormers to visualise going into their bye week with three out of three wins, Fleck said that the Kings won’t be a walkover, but also added that his side will continue to look for positives in the Eastern Cape.
“The Kings are doing some good things down there. They’ve got a lot of character and it’s going to be a tough game. It’s never easy travelling to PE, but we’re excited about what we can achieve there,” he said.
Kings:
15 Masixole Banda, 14 Makazole Mapimpi, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Luzuko Vulindlu, 11 Malcolm Jaer, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Rick Schroeder, 8 Riaan Lerm, 7 Themelani Bholi, 6 Chris Cloete, 5 Irne Herbst, 4 Tyler Paul, 3 Ross Geldenhuys, 2 Michael Willemse, 1 Schalk Ferreira (captain). Bench: 16 Kurt Haupt, 17 Schalk van der Merwe, 18 Chris Heiberg, 19 Willem van der Sluys, 20 Andisa Ntsila, 21 Johan Steyn, 22 Pieter-Steyn de Wet, 23 Berton Klaasen
Stormers:
15 SP Marais, 14 Dillyn Leyds, 13 EW Viljoen, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 6 Rynhardt Elstadt, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Eben Etzebeth (captain), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Oli Kebble. Bench: 16 Ramone Samuels, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Chris Van Zyl, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 Kurt Coleman, 23 Damian Willemse
Referee:
Shuhei Kubo. Kickoff: 3.05pm