Western Province may need to turn to their third captain this season after stand-in skipper Nizaam Carr suffered a hamstring strain this past weekend.

Carr, who recently took over the leadership from the injured Juan de Jongh, will be given until Thursday to prove his fitness for Saturday's clash against the Sharks.

The good news, though, is that Sikhumbuzo Notshe is over a knee injury and would be the obvious replacement should Carr fail to recover in time.

Notshe is back in training along with loosehead prop Oli Kebble (hamstring strain) and scrumhalf Jano Vermaak (finger injury), while lock/flank Jurie van Vuuren came through last weekend's match against Griquas well after making his return from a three-month lay-off.

WP coach John Dobson said they'd give Carr every opportunity to prove his fitness before ruling him out of this weekend's clash.

'Nizaam is certainly looking a lot better than we initially thought on Saturday, but we will make a final call on him when we announce our team on Thursday. Notshe would be a like-for-like replacement were Nizaam to miss out, while Nic Groom did well as captain when Nizaam went off on Saturday.'

Photo: Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images