Scarra boosts Stormers’ chances ahead of ‘extremely tough’ Bulls clash

The return of Scarra Ntubeni at hooker will be a huge boost for the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash against the Bulls at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

Ntubeni, who was absent for the matches against Ulster and Ospreys, is expected to return to the team this weekend and Stormers assistant coach Rito Hlungwani is delighted to accommodate the bundle of vibrant energy.

“I think it’s massive. A guy with his experience is always good to have in our side. Scarra brings a lot of experience to the team, so if he comes back it will be a good gain for us.”

While Ntubeni brings grunt and accuracy to the scrum and line-outs, the manner in which he lends sure hands in open play will be of huge value to the Stormers.

The Stormers have added vastly to their attacking dimension this season, but so too have the Bulls who possess game breakers in their outside backs.

“We know the Bulls have been playing quite an attractive brand of rugby,” Hlungwani said. “They have speedsters on the outside and have been scoring some beautiful tries. I don’t think they will change the way they play. They will want to continue with how well they have been playing and keep those systems going.

“This is also a good team and they have won five games on the trot. They won’t really want to adjust much. They have some good things going. They are scoring a lot of tries and they have a very strong pack as well that contests at the line-out. It’s going to be an extremely tough game.”

Though a battle against their old foe may previously have brought about a don’t lose, defensive, no-risk mindset, Hlungwani was clear the Stormers would not deviate from the way they have gone about business so far in this campaign.

“Our mindset is definitely the same this week. We expect them to come out hard and try to impose their physicality on us. We do feel it’s a big game, but we have always felt that these games are big. There won’t be too much of a change in how we approach it. We always take these games seriously.”

Meanwhile, Juan de Jongh is back in the Western Province line-up for their Currie Cup clash against the Blue Bulls on Wednesday.

Along with De Jongh, the back division is also strengthened by the inclusion of flyhalf Tim Swiel, while Kade Wolhuter starts off on the bench.

The only change in the pack is the return of Sazi Sandi at tight head.

WP team to play the Blue Bulls:  Tristan Leyds; Sergeal Petersen, De Jongh, Cornel Smit, Angelo Davids; Swiel, Godlen Masimla; Keke Morabe, Marcel Theunissen, Nama Xaba (captain); Connor Evans, Ben-Jason Dixon; Sandi, JJ Kotze, Kwenzo Blose. Replacements: Lukhanyo Vokozela, Leon Lyons, Lee-Marvin Mazibuko, Simon Miller, Jarrod Taylor, Bobby Alexander, Kade Wolhuter and Mnombo Zwelendaba.