It’s Muller time as Stormers mix and match 

Junior star Markus Muller will start his first URC match against the Scarlets on Saturday at Cape Town Stadium in a Stormers side showing 18 changes to the match 23.

The 19-year-old Muller, who became the youngest player to represent the club last season, will run out in a new-look midfield pairing with Wandisile Simelane.

Simelane was a late replacement for the injured Ruhan Nel in last week’s clash with the Bristol Bears in the Investec Champions Cup.

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Paul de Villiers will captain the team for just the second time after taking over the armband from Nel.

Warrick Gelant replaces fellow Springbok Damian Willemse in the No 15 jersey and scrumhalf Haashim Pead makes his first start in the other changes to the backline.

Cobus Reinach and Yaqeen Ahmed are set to feature off the bench.

In the loose trio, Hacjivah Dayimani makes his return at the back of the scrum, which sees Evan Roos shift to blindside flank as Siya Kolisi drops out.

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Riley Norton and Connor Evans pair up for the first time in the second row with JD Schickerling and Adré Smith among the replacements.

The all-Springbok front row of Zachary Porthen, André-Hugo Venter and Ntuthuko Mchunu is backed up by Olly Reid, Lukhanyo Vokozela and Neethling Fouché.

John Dobson’s men are looking to build on their 49-12 win over Bristol. Prior to a week’s pause in the URC, the Stormers triumphed 39-22 against the Sharks and finished round three in fourth place on the log.

The visiting Scarlets, though, are buoyed by back-to-back wins over Benetton and the Newcastle Red Bulls.

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“We have four players in Muller, Norton, Reid and Ahmed who are young enough to be playing for the Stormers Bolts, along with the likes of Deon Fourie who is the second most-capped player of all time for this club,” Dobson said.

“There are some really dynamic combinations both in the starting lineup and the replacements bench and they will all be tested against a Scarlets team that has made an impressive start to the season.”

STORMERS – 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Seabelo Senatla, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Markus Muller, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Haashim Pead, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Evan Roos, 6 Paul de Villiers (c), 5 Connor Evans, 4 Riley Norton, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 André-Hugo Venter, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu.
Bench: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 17 Olly Reid, 18 Neethling Fouché, 19 Adré Smith, 20 JD Schickerling, 21 Deon Fourie, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Yaqeen Ahmed.

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images