Stormers shuffle pack for clash against Lions at Newlands

The Stormers coach Robbie Fleck has reshuffled his pack to face the Lions at Newlands on Saturday.

Lock Pieter-Steph du Toit has not recovered from a serious bout of flu‚ picked up in the extreme conditions in Hong Kong last weekend.

Jan de Klerk comes into the starting lineup.

No 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe starts in what will be his 50th appearance for the Stormers and could precede his inclusion in the first Springboks squad of the year on Saturday night.

Stormers captain Siya Kolisi was adamant that his side would be in the game to win it despite having almost no chance of making the play-offs after eight defeats in 13 matches this year.

Last week they lost 26-23 to the Sunwolves‚ which effectively ended their campaign.

“Our only focus is only on this game because we can’t think about what other teams might or might not do‚” Kolisi said.

“We are not wasting energy on that. We want to finish strong by winning our last three games. That’s all we can do.”

Springbok hooker Bongi Mbonambi makes a timely return to the squad following emergency surgery for a burst appendix 10 weeks ago.

Mbonambi played for the Western Province team in the SuperSport Challenge last week and has a chance to reclaim his place in the Bok squad by proving his fitness this weekend.

Wing Seabelo Senatla has rejoined the Springboks sevens team and will miss this weekend’s clash with Raymond Rhule coming back into the starting lineup and Craig Barry moving on to the bench.

Team:

15 SP Marais‚ 14 Dillyn Leyds‚ 13 JJ Engelbrecht‚ 12 Damian de Allende‚ 11 Raymond Rhule‚ 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis‚ 9 Dewaldt Duvenage‚ 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe‚ 7 Kobus van Dyk‚ 6 Siya Kolisi (c)‚ 5 Chris van Zyl‚ 4 Jan de Klerk‚ 3 Wilco Louw‚ 2 Ramone Samuels‚ 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.

Subs:

16 Bongi Mbonambi‚ 17 Steven Kitshoff‚ 18 Frans Malherbe‚ 19 Cobus Wiese‚ 20 Nizaam Carr‚ 21 Paul de Wet‚ 22 EW Viljoen‚ 23 Craig Barry.