DHL Western Province continues their approach of limiting Vodacom URC players in their Carling Currie Cup squad, which begins against the Vodacom Bulls in Cape Town on Saturday. While the team for the opener will be announced later, WP coach Labeeb Levy has included eight Junior Springboks who recently won the World Junior Rugby Championship in Italy in the wider squad. These players won’t feature against the Bulls, but, notably, national Under-20 captain Riley Norton and others—Xola Nyali, Wandile Mlaba, Oliver Reid, Herman Lubbe, Siya Ndlozi, Dominic Malgas, and Gino Cupido—will be available for the remaining six league games.
The 54-man WP squad also features seasoned players such as former Springbok and Lions wing Courtnall Skosan, Bok scrumhalf Scarra Ntubeni, lock Gary Porter, and prop Sti Sithole, all with limited URC game time last season, offering them a chance to regain form without affecting Stormers’ 2025/26 URC and Investec Champions Cup campaigns. The Stormers’ URC players are currently resting before preseason begins ahead of the 26 September start.
Players not first-choice for the Stormers will use the Currie Cup to build confidence, including exciting young scrumhalf Imad Khan and flyhalf Jurie Matthee, who could fill the Stormers’ No. 10 role extensively with Manie Libbok moving to Japan and Damian Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu likely to be with the Springboks for parts of the season.
WP also boasts seven players with recent Springbok Sevens experience—Tristan Leyds, Zain Davids, Sako Makata, Justin Geduld, Ronald Brown, and Shilton van Wyk—while 13 club players, who have impressed at lower levels, have been called up to increase squad depth.
WP CURRIE CUP SQUAD
Forwards: Abri Coetzee (Hamiltons), Adam de Waal, Aden da Costa, Alex Groves, Andre Goedhals, Arno Gustafson (Hamiltons), Cabous Eloff, Carlo van Greunen (Durbanville-Bellville), CJ Velleman, Danio Botha, De Wet Marais (Maties), Enos Diao (UCT), Erhard Lambrecht (Helderberg), Francois Staples (Durbanville-Bellville), Gary Porter, Gideon van Wyk, Herman Lubbe, Keagan Blanckenberg, Luca Bakkes, Louw Nel, Luhanyo Vokozela, Matthew Beckett (UCT), Mhleli Khuzwayo (UCT), Nick Roebeck (Hamiltons), Oliver Reid, Patrick Kitete, Riley Norton, Roland van den Heever (SK Walmers), Scarra Ntubeni, Sti Sithole, Wandile Mlaba, Xola Nyali, Zachary Porthen, Zain Davids.
Backs: Asad Moos, Brendan Venter (Helderberg), Courtnall Skosan, Damian Markus, Dominic Malgas, Ezekiel Ngobeni (Maties), Gino Cupido, Imad Khan, Jared Africa, Joel Leotlelelak, Jurie Matthee, Justin Geduld, Kyle Smith, Luke Burger, Quein Nortje, Ronald Brown, Sako Makata, Shilton van Wyk, Siya Ndlozi, Tristan Leyds.
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