Salmaan Moerat will make his long-awaited return from injury when the Stormers take on the Lions in their United Rugby Championship opener at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.
Moerat’s return will also mark his debut as the Stormers’ permament captain, replacing Springbok Steven Kitshoff, who will join Ulster after the Rugby World Cup.
The 25-year-old lock, who would have had a shout of making the Springboks’ World Cup squad had he not suffered a long-term injury in December, will be looking to get his tenure as skipper up and running against a Lions side that struggled last season.
For the clash, the Stormers will have five Springboks in fullback Warrick Gelant, scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies, No.8 Evan Roos and hooker Joseph Dweba in the starting fifteen, while Lizo Gqoboka will make his debut off the replacements bench.
Also making his debut off the bench will be English winger Ben Loader, who joined the team from London Irish.
Stormers coach John Dobson said he was delighted that even with a number of players currently in France at the Rugby World Cup, he was still able to select a strong side for the encounter.
"It has been a great pre-season and obviously every player in the squad was desperate to be involved in this match, so there were some tough selections,“ said Dobson.
"We are looking forward to the challenge of going up to Johannesburg to get the campaign underway.
"There has been a lot of hard work put in to get us to this point and we can't wait to get going on Saturday," he said.
After losing last season’s final to Munster, Dobson’s team will be looking to taking their first steps to reclaiming their URC title. Saturday’s game at Ellis Park kicks off at 4.05pm.
Stormers team for Saturday
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Clayton Blommetjies, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Marcel Theunissen, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Kwenzo Blose.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Hacjivah Dayimani, 21 Willie Engelbrecht, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Ben Loader.
IOL Sport