It's hard to imagine that flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis will play in his first ever Currie Cup match when Western Province tackle the Blue Bulls at Newlands on Saturday (5.15pm).
The son of WP great Carel Du Plessis made his debut for the Stormers back in 2016 already.
But injury has curtailed the 25-year-old’s career, to the point where he is only now going to wear his beloved Streeptrui.
And what an occasion it will be.
Up against traditional rivals the Blue Bulls, Du Plessis will be joined by wing Edwill van der Merwe, who will also Cup bow after making his Super Rugby debut earlier this year.
POTENTIAL: Coach John Dobson sees much potential in Jean-Luc du Plessis. Photo: BackpagePix.
Of Du Plessis, coach John Dobson says: “Jean-Luc we know what his potential is, we saw [what he could do] in last year’s Super Rugby.
“In Super Rugby this year he was perhaps under pressure. He is on debut [on Saturday] because he got injured every single season.
“We are going to give a guy chance to build his confidence as much as we can in this year’s Currie Cup.”
Cape rugby fans will also be glad to see the Juarno Augustus back on the field on Saturday.
FRESH: Edwill van der Merwe. Photo: BackpagePix.
Trokkie was injured for much of this season’s Super Rugby campaign, but Dobson couldn’t be happier to have his steamroller back.
He says: “There is nobody in the country like him when it comes to being five yards from the tryline – you can’t stop him. It’s nice to have him, but we don’t expect him to play 80 minutes.”
Of the match against the Bulls, Dobson adds: “They’ve got five Springboks in their team, we’ve got one… Our pack has to get ascendency in this game.”
TEAMS:
WESTERN PROVINCE:
15 SP Marais, 14 Edwill van der Merwe, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan Kriel, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Justin Phillips, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Jaco Coetzee, 5 Chris van Zyl (captain), 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Corne Fourie. Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Kwenzo Blose, 18 Carlu Sadie, 19 JD Schickerling, 20 Chris Massyn, 21 Godlen Masimla, 22 Josh Stander, 23 Craig Barry.
BLUE BULLS:
15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Johnny Kotze, 12 Burger Odendaal ( captain), 11 Rosko Specman, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Wian Vosloo, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Ruan Nortje, 3 Wiehahn Herbst, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Simphiwe Matanzima. Replacements: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Matthys Basson, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Jean Droste, 20 Roelof Smit, 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Dylan Sage.