Director of rugby John Dobson has made eight changes to the Stormers starting line-up for Saturday’s URC match against Benetton in Treviso.

Director of rugby John Dobson has made eight changes to the Stormers starting line-up for Saturday’s URC match against Benetton in Treviso.

Bok lock Salmaan Moerat returns from injury and is joined in the second row by JD Schickerling, with a fit-again Sazi Sandi alongside André-Hugo Venter and Vernon Matongo up front.

At halfback, the experienced Dewaldt Duvenage will link up with Jurie Matthee as Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is rested this week, while Springbok scrumhalf Cobus Reinach is set to make his Stormers debut off a bench that also features Oli Kebble, who will make his first appearance for the team since 2017.

We know just how tough it is to win in Treviso, so it will take a big effort to get the result we need,” said Dobson.

The players coming in are all hungry to make an impression and we will be giving it everything to finish the tour with another win ahead of the international break.

There are still several areas of our game we would like to improve, so this is an opportunity for us to build on the encouraging start we have made to the season.”

The Stormers are targeting a first-ever win in Treviso to make it five consecutive victories at the start of the season.

STORMERS – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Ruhan Nel (c), 12 Damian Willemse, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Salmaan Moerat, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Vernon Matongo.
Bench: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Oli Kebble, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Adré Smith, 20 Ruben van Heerden, 21 Ruan Ackerman, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Wandisile Simelane.