Zas reaches DHL Stormers half century

Wing Leolin Zas will play his 50th match for the DHL Stormers in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship encounter with Munster on Saturday.

The prolific finisher, who has scored 25 tries in his 49 games for the DHL Stormers since his debut in 2016, will reach the milestone at Thomond Park in Limerick in a match that kicks off at 19h15 SA time on Saturday and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

The return to fitness of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu means that Ruhan Nel moves to outside centre with Ben Loader on the wing, while Paul de Wet starts at scrumhalf in the other backline change.

Flank Willie Engelbrecht, lock Gary Porter, hooker Joseph Dweba and prop Sti Sithole all start up front this week through rotation in the pack.

Hooker Andre-Hugo Venter and wing Angelo Davids are the only players on the replacements bench that did not feature last week.

DHL Stormers Head Coach John Dobson congratulated Zas on the milestone.

"Leolin has a fantastic story, he started out as a prodigious talent who suffered a major injury setback and came back a different player. He embodies the fighting spirit we want to play with and we are thrilled for him to reach his DHL Stormers half-century this weekend.

"We know that we will have to lift our standards in a number of areas this weekend and the players who are coming in are all keen to make their presence felt in what will be a tough game at Thomond Park," he said.

DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Ruhan Nel, 12 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Willie Engelbrecht, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Neethling Fouche (captain), 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Sti Sithole.

Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Ali Vermaak, 18 Brok Harris, 19 Adre Smith, 20 Keke Morabe, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Clayton Blommetjies, 23 Angelo Davids.