Cape Town – Two men at very different stages of their careers, Kade Wolhuter and Hilton Lobberts, will make their return to big-time rugby for Western Province in Wednesday’s Currie Cup match against the Sharks in Durban (8pm kickoff).
Young flyhalf prodigy Wolhuter is highly rated by the Springbok management, to the extent that he featured in the Green v Gold match in 2020 at Newlands.
But a serious knee injury in May last year, when playing for the Stormers against the Sharks in a Rainbow Cup encounter, has kept him sidelined since. Nine months later, the 20-year-old Wolhuter won’t be thinking about the Boks anytime soon, but rather on getting his career going again.
He will have to wait until the second half for an opportunity, though, as the experienced Tim Swiel will captain Province at flyhalf. Swiel has another streetwise operator alongside him in Godlen Masimla, who will have to guide the new-look centre pair of Cornel Smit and Mnombo Zwelendaba.
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Sergeal Petersen will feature at fullback instead of wing, where Leolin Zas and Andre Manual will have their hands full against Sharks duo Yaw Penxe and Marnus Potgieter.
WP coach Jerome Paarwater would’ve been delighted to welcome back classy lock David Meihuizen from injury as well, while Ali Vermaak is also in the No 1 jersey once more.
Paarwater rolled back the years on Tuesday, though, with the inclusion of Lobberts on the bench.
Now 35, the two-Test Springbok has been in the rugby wilderness over the past few years, having last featured at provincial level for the Pumas in 2019.
Lobberts is listed as a reserve lock for the Sharks clash, and one thing the WP forwards can be sure of are a couple of big hits in defence from the former Bulls flank in the second half.
Western Province Team
15 Sergeal Petersen 14 Andre Manuel 13 Mnombo Zwelendaba 12 Cornel Smit 11 Leolin Zas 10 Tim Swiel (captain) 9 Godlen Masimla 8 Keke Morabe 7 Simon Miller 6 Roelof Smit 5 David Meihuizen 4 Connor Evans 3 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko 2 Chad Solomon 1 Ali Vermaak.
Bench: 16 Jacques Goosen 17 Kwenzo Blose 18 Corne Weilbach 19 Hilton Lobberts 20 Hannes Gous 21 Thomas Bursey 22 Kade Wolhuter 23 Ethan James.
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