Dobson: Kitshoff arguably the best

Cape Town - Western Province coach John Dobson says loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff is “very disappointed” at being left out of the Springbok World Cup squad.

Kitshoff returns to the WP starting line-up for Saturday’s Currie Cup clash against Griquas at Newlands alongside hooker Scarra Ntubeni, who also missed out on World Cup selection.

While Ntubeni knew that he would miss out on the squad weeks before it was announced, for Kitshoff the disappointment is still fresh.

“In Scarra’s case he knew for a while… he was just desperate to get back by that stage,” said Dobson.

“I think Steven Kitshoff is very disappointed, in fact I know he’s very disappointed. But again, he wants to play… he hasn’t played for a long time.

“Their mind-sets are brilliant, I just know that Steven is disappointed because arguably he’s the best loosehead in South Africa so I think to miss out on a World Cup is tough. But he really wants to play and he wants Western Province to do well.”

Dobson also confirmed that he had a duty to keep Kitshoff match-fit due to him being on the World Cup standby list.

“Oli (Kebble) and Ali (Vermaak) have done really well and they’re both guys for our future but we have got a commitment to get Steven to play some rugby for the national cause,” said Dobson.

“Given what he’s done for Western Province if it keeps him in the World Cup mix I’m very happy. His mind-set is right.”

Teams:

Western Province:

15. Cheslin Kolbe, 14. Kobus van Wyk, 13. Johnny Kotze, 12. Jaco Taute, 11. Seabelo Senatla, 10. Kurt Coleman, 9. Nic Groom, 8. Nizaam Carr (captain), 7. Rynhardt Elstadt, 6. Chris Cloete, 5. Ruan Botha, 4. Jean Kleyn, 3. Wilco Louw, 2. Scarra Ntubeni, 1. Steven Kitshoff

Substitutes: 16. Bongi Mbonambi, 17. JP Smith, 18. Chris van Zyl, 19. Jurie van Vuuren, 20. Godlen Masimla, 21. Robert du Preez, 22. Dillyn Leyds

Griquas:

15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Sandile Ngcobo, 13 Jonathan Francke, 12 Clinton Swart, 11 Ruhan Nel, 10 Francois Brummer, 9 Tian Meyer (captain), 8 Carel Greeff, 7 RJ Liebenberg, 6 Hilton Lobberts, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Jaco Nepgen, 3 Stephan Kotze, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 Steph Roberts.

Substitutes: 16 AJ Le Roux, 17  Danie Mienie, 18 Ewald Van Der Westhuizen, 19 Jonathan Adendorf, 20 Leon Karemaker, 21 Gouws Prinsloo,  22 Jacquin Jansen