Cape Town - Six players will make their senior Currie Cup debut for the Western Province against the Sharks on Sunday (kickoff 14:00) in Durban as the Cape side continues to expand its player base.
WP will be looking for a third win away from home after they beat the Lions in Johannesburg and Bulls in Pretoria with bonus points.
Labeeb Levy, interim head coach of the WP, decided to rope in some club players as part of the unions' plan to expand its player base and to reward club rugby players.
Fazeel Robertson, a winger from St. Georges Rugby Football Club in Strand, together with SK Walmers scrumhalf Labeeb Kannemeyer, will run out for the team on Sunday.
Robertson will start as the WP side are currently low on wing stocks due to injuries and Stormers duties. Kannemeyer will get a run off the bench but has been on the radar of WP for a while now.
Jerome Paarwater, who headed the program scouting the club players, said both players have flourished as part of the professional environment.
"This just shows what we can achieve by making the most of the considerable talent in our club system," Paarwater said in a statement.
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"There has been a lot of work that went into identifying and developing our top club rugby talent, so to see Fazeel and Labib take their opportunity like this is fantastic.”
Veteran Juan de Jongh will captain the side that includes lock Gary Porter, Paul de Villiers and Armand Maritz and Edward Coulson on debut.
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John Dobson, WP and Stormers head coach, said they are looking forward to what the combinations can produce in Durban.
It's still an exciting mixture of experience and youth that can put the Sharks under pressure but they'll have to be at their best if they want to complete a first round clean sweep over the big three unions.
Western Province: 15 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 14 Fazeel Robertson, 13 Juan de Jongh (captain), 12 Bruce Sherwood, 11 Duncan Saal, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Keke Morabe, 7 Junior Pokomela, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Connor Evans, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Leon Lyons, 18 Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, 19 Dylan de Leeuw, 20 Louwan Horn, 21 Armand Maritz, 22 Labib Kennemeyer, 23 Eward Coulson.
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