Faletau starts for Cardiff in URC play-off bid
United Rugby Championship: Stormers v CardiffVenue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town Date: Friday, 16 May Kick off: 18:00 BSTCoverage: Scrum V Live BBC Two Wales and iPlayer; also watch and live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. Highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.
Wales number eight Taulupe Faletau returns to Cardiff's starting side against Stormers in Cape Town as the Welsh side aim to seal a United Rugby Championship (URC) play-off place.Faletau, 34, impressed after coming off the replacements bench in the 45-21 defeat against Bulls in Pretoria.He is one of five Cardiff changes with lock Teddy Williams, prop Danny Southworth and half-backs Aled Davies and Callum Sheedy starting. Alun Lawrence switches from number eight to flanker.Lock Josh McNally captains the side in the absence of injured hooker Liam Belcher.South Africa fly-half Manie Libbok returns from injury for Stormers, with fellow Springbok Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu primed to come on from the replacements bench.
Cardiff are just outside the top eight - ninth by virtue of wins and points difference - but know a win in Cape Town would definitely extend their season.Though Matt Sherratt's side will be aware that two losing bonus points might still get them over the line, the coach only has victory on his mind."We feel it's a must-win game in terms of getting in that top eight," said Sherratt."It's going to be a tough ask but we spoke to the players around not trying to creep in, let's win a game and get in there rather than hope other teams didn't get what they needed."We spoke about what we were going to need to guarantee the playoffs and we actually called it a fight for 50 points."At the start of the year we were saying if we were in the final round and had a game to get in the play-offs, we would snatch your hand-off."Cardiff have suffered a difficult season off the field after going into temporary administration in April before being taken over by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU)."It'd be brilliant if Cardiff reach the play-offs," said Sherratt."I don't think they have ever been there before and for the club with the history and the potential, we should be getting into the top eight."I'm proud of the staff and the players this year after our budget actually decreased this year from last year."So to get the improvements we have, where we've doubled the amount of games we've won, got the most bonus point tries we've scored and turned tight losses into wins, it would be the icing on the cake to push into the top eight."
Cardiff's only victory in their last five away league matches was against Ospreys on Judgement Day at Principality Stadium.Sherratt's side have won just one of their past four matches in South Africa and that was against Sharks 12 months ago.Cardiff have played Stormers on three previous occasions, with all matches going in favour of the home side.Stormers are fifth in the URC table and have already confirmed their play-off place, although they cannot gain a home tie by finishing in the top four.The South African side have lost just one of their last six league games and have suffered only one home defeat this season.
Stormers: Damian Willemse; Suleiman Hartzenberg, Wandisile Simelane, Dan du Plessis, Leolin Zas; Manie Libbok, Herschel Jantjies; Sti Sithole, Joseph Dweba, Neethling Fouche, Salmaan Moerat (capt), JD Schickerling, Dave Ewers, Louw Nel, Marcel Theunissen.Replacements: Scarra Ntubeni, Vernon Matongo, Sazi Sandi, Connor Evans, Paul de Villiers, Paul de Wet, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Ben Loader.Cardiff: Cameron Winnett; Josh Adams, Harri Millard, Ben Thomas, Gabriel Hamer-Webb; Callum Sheedy, Aled Davies; Danny Southworth, Evan Lloyd, Keiron Assiratti, Josh McNally (capt), Teddy Williams, Alun Lawrence, Alex Mann, Taulupe Faletau.Replacements: Dafydd Hughes, Corey Domachowski, Rhys Litterick, Rory Thornton, James Botham, Dan Thomas, Johan Mulder, Rory Jennings.Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs & Hanru van Rooyen (SARU)TMO: Andrea Piardi (FIR).
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