Stormers welcome back Deon Fourie and Leolin Zas for URC quarter-final

By SABC Sport
5th May 2023

The Stormers have been bolstered by the return of flank Deon Fourie and wing Leolin Zas for Saturday's URC quarterfinal against the Bulls at DHL Stadium.

The North-South showdown kicks off at 15h30 on Saturday, with a place in the United Rugby Championship semifinals on the line. Close to 40 000 tickets had already been sold as of Friday morning.

Ruhan Nel, Angelo Davids, Herschel Jantjies, Joseph Dweba and Frans Malherbe also return to the starting line-up, having featured off the replacements bench in the final league match of the season against Benetton a fortnight ago.

The only new faces among the replacements are lock Gary Porter and utility back Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Stormers Head Coach John Dobson said that everyone is looking forward to what will be another special occasion at DHL Stadium.

"We will have our biggest crowd of the season for a North-South knock-out game, so this is something everyone has been looking forward to.

"It is fantastic to have the likes of Deon and Leolin back in the mix for this one, they have both made such a big impact for us in recent times.

"We are very proud of what we have already achieved this season as our goal was to broaden depth across the squad and consolidate our position. To have hosted a Heineken Champions Cup play-off, retain the SA Shield and have a home United Rugby Championship quarterfinal on top of capping as many players as we have means a lot to us.

"We are really excited about the future and the new generation of players coming through, but right now it's all about Saturday.

"We want to play the kind of rugby that has got us into this position and repay the incredible support we get with a worthy performance," he said.

DHL Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Hacjivah Dayimani, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff (captain).

Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Ben-Jason Dixon, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.