JUR THE ONE I WANT

WESTERN Province coach Labeeb Levy hopes to have Jurie Matthee fit and available for this weekend’s crucial second Currie Cup Premier Division clash against the Lions at Ellis Park.

Province find themselves second from bottom on the Currie Cup standings after a 48-23 opening-round loss to the Bulls innie Kaap at the weekend.

And with this year’s Currie Cup being played over a single round, Levy’s team find themselves under early pressure to try and qualify for the semi-finals.

Matthee missed WP’s opening game because of a concussion he suffered during training and had to pass a fitness test on Monday.

As the most experienced general in WP’s Currie Cup squad, and having played a handful of United Rugby Championship games with the Stormers last season, Matthee will be seen as crucial to getting the Kaapse span firing on attack.

This, especially after WP sukkeled to get going against an experienced Bulls outfit with Kyle Smith at 10.

Of Matthee possibly being ready to take over at No.10 for the game against the Lions, Levy said: “Jurie will do a concussion test on Monday, then we will make that call.

“He is an experienced No.10… Immy [scrumhalf Imaad Khan] is still [out with] a hamstring, and I don’t think he’ll be ready. But Jurie will become part of the conversation based on his [concussion] protocol.”

WP also has eight Junior Springbok World Rugby Under-20 Championship-winning players back at training this week.

They are Baby Bok captain Riley Norton, Xola Nyali, Wandile Mlaba, Oliver Reid, Herman Lubbe, Siya Ndlozi, Dominic Malgas and Gino Cupido.

However, Levy seemed reluctant to bring them into the conversation for the Lions clash and said: “It’s boys coming into a men’s environment, you know. They played against boys [in Italy]... they are coming in to face pros.

“A few of them will definitely make Currie Cup debuts… but we also need to see how they cope against the men. We want to build them up and give them a good intro into the senior pro division.”