Steven Kitshoff can’t wait to pack down against his former teammates when Ulster and the DHL Stormers clash at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday night.

The loosehead prop has retained his place from the Ulster side that narrowly lost to the Sharks in Durban last week in the Vodacom URC. It will be the former Stormers captain’s first game back in Cape Town since moving to Belfast this season.

Neethling Fouche has been entrusted with the responsibility of scrumming against the double world champion, starting ahead of Frans Malherbe at tighthead, and speaking on the Behind the Ruck podcast with former Boks Rudy Paige and Juan de Jongh, Kitshoff acknowledged the challenge of facing those whom he led to back-to-back URC finals.

“We had a quick braai earlier in the week [before the Sharks game] at Eben’s [Etzebeth] house for a quick catch-up. Bongi [Mbonambi] was there, Vinny [Vincent Koch] was there. It was great to see the guys,” he said.

“But then it was a different story playing against them, and will probably be the same again this week. Scrumming against Frans or Neethling, it’s your friends; do you go a bit harder or softer? How do you sum up the situation?

“Hopefully it’s a nice tough battle and Frans doesn’t scrum me backwards every time! Maybe we need to come up with a handshake before the time, like a gentleman’s agreement… ‘ons kyk mooi naar mekaar’… It’s going to be interesting.”

CLICK HERE FOR STORMERS VS ULSTER TICKETS 

WATCH: Inside Simelane’s Stormers debut

The Stormers thrashed Edinburgh 43-21 in Cape Town last week, moving up four places to fifth on the standings while Ulster dropped to seventh with the result at Kings Park.

Kitshoff expects a tough encounter, yet is relishing the opportunity for both teams to play some entertaining rugby for the fans.

“We came on tour seeded at five and saw it as an opportunity to grow a bit but also try and get a win to cement our position on the log,” he said.

“Tough result for us last week but there’s another big challenge ahead for us against the Stormers, and they had an unbelievable game against Edinburgh.

“The style, the attack, the way Manie [Libbok] just controls the game, I know it’s going to be a difficult one but it’s a 7 o’clock kick-off so maybe that plays a little bit in our favour.

“But for me it’s just awesome. It’s going to be a difficult one, the Stormers are on top form at the moment, but I think it’s going to be an entertaining game and hopefully the ball stays dry and both teams can chuck it around a bit – a bit of champagne rugby.

“It’ll be cool to see the stadium with all the lights on and see the Faithful again, it’s going to be special.”

Photo: @UlsterRugby/Twitter

The post Kitsie: It’s going to be special appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.

Src: sarugbymag.co.za