Chris van Zyl will lead Western Province in their opening Currie Cup match against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria on Friday.

The lock captained WP throughout their Currie Cup Qualifier campaign and with loose forward Nizaam Carr in doubt for the clash at Loftus, Van Zyl has retained the captaincy. 

'It's a massive privilege for me, coach [John] Dobson and I had spoken about it and I said from the outset that I wanted to do it at Loftus. I enjoyed the Currie Cup Qualifiers and the role of being in charge there, and I feel that I thrive in that leadership position,' said Van Zyl.

Dobson confirmed Van Zyl's appointment is temporary and that the leadership roles will be reassessed when they go on a camp next week.

'Next week we have got a bye and we are going on a camp where we will choose our full leadership. This is like a mini-campaign of seeing what we can do at Loftus with Chris as captain. It is going to be a very tough game for us, but that is why we are viewing it as one big game at the start,' Dobson said. 

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