Hugo return for Cheetahs
Cheetahs coach Franco Smith, who had to deal with a host injuries this week, was forced into changes for the Super Rugby Round 15 encounter with the Stormers in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Hugo will be making his return to Super Rugby after being sidelined by a knee injury, sustained in the game against the Bulls in March.
Hugo replaces Carl Wegner, who fractured his eye socket in training and will be sidelined for about two weeks.
In the backline, captain Francois Venter returns at outside centre in place of William-Small Smith, who is on the bench, while Tian Meyer starts in place of Shaun Venter at scrumhalf.
Up front, Elandre Huggett starts at hooker in place of the injured Torsten van Jaarsveld – who injured his neck playing for Namibia earlier this month.
Joseph Dweba will come in on the bench to provide cover at hooker.
Niell Jordaan will start at No 8, while Springbok Teboho Mohoje – who recovered from a concussion he suffered in the second Test against France – will play off the bench.
The Cheetahs resisted the temptation to use any of the BlitzBok trio – Cecil Afrika‚ Chris Dry and Rosko Specman – that joined them this month.
Cheetahs: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter (captain), 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Tian Meyer, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Henco Venter, 5 Daniel Hugo, 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Johan Coetzee, 2 Elandre Huggett, 1 Retshegofaditswe Nche.
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Charles Marais, 18 Tom Botha, 19 Justin Basson, 20 Teboho Mohoje, 21 Fred Zeilinga, 22 Ruan van Rensburg, 23 William Small-Smith.
Date: Saturday, July 1
Venue: Free State stadium, Bloemfontein
Kick-off: 15.05 (13.05 GMT)
Referee: Jaco van Heerden
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs (South Africa), Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)
