Friday night is D-day for several Stormers players as coach Alan Solomons has indicated he will select his shadow Super 12 starting line-up for the last friendly, against Western Province at Newlands on Wednesday.

The Stormers take on the Boland Kavaliers in their second warm-up game on Friday night at the Boland Stadium in Wellington after beating the South Western Districts Eagles last Friday at George. Solomons will give all the players who haven't had a run against the Eagles - bar those still injured - a chance to show their value.

Then he will have to re-evaluate his players and decide on his strongest 22 for the WP game. After that game the coach will select the 30-man squad for Super 12 duty.

"The team who will play against WP will be fairly close to the side who will take the field against the Cats. I obviously wanted to give everybody game time in the first two friendlies," Solomons said.

"Then I want to review and reassess the situation and see where we're going from there. You need to take a few things into account, like how the players have performed, their experience and a number of other factors as well.

"I will reassess the situation after the Boland game, but it doesn't mean that the team against WP will go ahead and play en bloc against the Cats. It will be fairly close to that team, though."

At this stage, Solomons' main concern is the lack of depth and experience among his tight five. Injuries to Toks van der Linde and Morne van der Merwe, the absence of Cobus Visagie (awaiting the outcome of his disciplinary hearing for the alleged use of nandrolone) and the departure of Selborne Boome to France have left the pack severely depleted.

Hottie Louw is the Stormers best lock and after the disappointing performances of John Slade and Thys Stoltz against the Eagles, the gap is there for Quinton Davids as his second-row partner. Davids had an impressive Currie Cup season crowned by selection for the Springboks, but was overweight and badly out of shape when he reported for training after his holiday break. He must show he is capable of taking the step-up on Friday night.

At hooker it's a two-horse race between Pieter Dixon and Johan van Wyk as Charl Marais' understudy, although fiery Boland hooker Martin van Schalkwyk has his supporters. The latter, however, has an ankle injury and that robs Solomons of a valuable opportunity to weigh him up against his chosen two. Marais is recovering well from his rib injury and, according to Solomons, he should be ready to make a return to the action against WP.

Solomons admitted his biggest dilemma at the moment is solving his loose forward conundrum, as he called it. "Yes, it's going to be very difficult to leave one of the guys out of the squad.

"I wanted to give Adri Badenhorst a run at No 8 with Corne Krige and Hendrik Gerber the flanks, but after Corne's injury I had to make a decision. I went for Bobby as captain, but Adri will definitely get a chance on Friday. We have seven good players vying for six positions and I must say, that is a headache at the moment."

Chean Roux was not in the original 30 selected by Solomons, but an impressive showing as No 8 and captain against the Eagles must have given the coach second thoughts. Rob Brink (feet) is still out injured, but he will get his chance to stake a claim against Western Province, Solomons said.

A barn storming performance on Friday by flanker Pietie Ferreira, who is capable of just that, could complicate things even more for Solomons.