Scarra Ntubeni to start for Stormers in big north-south URC derby

Ntubeni and flank Willie Engelbrecht come into the starting line-up for the big North-South clash, which kicks off at 17h05 on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.

The starting backline that did duty in the 46-19 win against the Sharks in Durban a fortnight ago is unchanged, while utility forward Ernst van Rhyn makes his return from injury on the replacements bench.

Stormers head coach John Dobson is delighted to be able to keep such continuity in selection.

"It is quite rare at this stage of the season to have such continuity and we are also very happy to have some experienced players like Scarra and Ernst added to the mix this week as well.

"It has been a good week of training after the players got some deserved rest last week and we are ready for what will be another tough derby game," he said.

Ntubeni said he was surprised to be back in the starting line-up, having just returned from a lengthy injury lay-off.

It has been a difficult time for the popular forward, who made his much-anticipated return late last month from a long-term Achilles injury.

Ntubeni was thrown straight into the thick of things after hooker JJ Kotze went down early in the match against Ulster in Belfast, and he is excited to play his first match of the 2022/23 season on South African soil this week at Loftus Versfeld.

"I wasn't expecting to come on that early against Ulster but luckily we had Vennas [Andre-Hugo Venter] on the bench," said Ntubeni, who turns 32 on Saturday.

"I needed to be thrown into the deep end because the lungs were going to struggle anyway so I thought I might as well just do it. It was pretty awesome to be back on the field.

"For me, at the moment, it's about getting back into the team because I've been out for about 10 months. I really want to get back to my form where I was playing last season."

DHL Stormers: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Suleiman Hartzenberg, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Seabelo Senatla, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Marcel Theunissen, 7 Willie Engelbrecht, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 Gary Porter, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Brok Harris.

Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Sazi Sandi, 19 Ernst van Rhyn, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Junior Pokomela, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.