Western Province's promising loose forward Nick Koster has been selected at to start at number eight in their Currie Cup encounter against the Sharks at Newlands on Friday.

The 19-year-old former Bishops scholar has impressed in his two appearances off the bench for Province thus far, and has been rewarded with a spot in the starting XV.

The beleaguered Cape side face another uphill battle this weekend as they face a Sharks side that has been boosted by Springboks Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar. In fact, the Sharks will field 11 full internationals in their starting XV against Province.

WP coach Allister Coetzee has also opted to play the versatile Joe Pietersen at flyhalf in the absence of the injured Peter Grant and Willem de Waal.

Pietersen has played in various backline positions, both for the Stormers and WP, although he has never made any run-on XV in the pivot berth.

Pietersen, who will be lining up on Friday opposite Frenchman Frederic Michalak, the Sharks flyhalf, said he was expecting an "awesome" challenge.

Schalk Brits, who played eighthman last week against the Lions, has returned to his usual hooker position at the expense of Deon Fourie, who could start off the bench, depending on his facial injuries healing in time for Friday's clash.

AJ Venter will be on the bench against his former team, and will provide cover at lock.

An interesting inclusion on the WP reserves bench is the young University of Cape Town flyhalf, Matthew Rosslee, who impressed against the Lions Under-21 side in Johannesburg last Saturday.

Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Wylie Human, 13 PJ Vermeulen, 12 Gcobani Bobo (captain), 11 Tonderai Chavhanga, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Bolla Conradie, 8 Nick Koster, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt/Deon Fourie, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 AJ Venter, 19 Conraad Britz, 20 Dewaldt Duvenhage, 21 Matthew Rosslee, 22 Morgan Newman.
Date: Friday, 8 August
Venue: Newlands, Cape Town
Kick-off: 7.10pm (5.10pm GMT)
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Touch judges: Phillip Bosch, Marc van Zyl
Television match official: Shaun Veldsman

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