Dragons team to face Southern Kings

Mar 1 • General News, Guinness Pro14 • 1220 Views • Comments Off on Dragons team to face Southern Kings

Dragons have made six personnel changes and one positional change for their Guinness PRO14 match against Southern Kings at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium tomorrow (Friday 2nd March).

Head Coach Bernard Jackman has moved versatile back Zane Kirchner to the fullback position from centre as he joins Ashton Hewitt, who has recovered from a foot injury, and Jared Rosser in the back three. The centre partnership sees ex-Southern Kings player Jarryd Sage link up with Jack Dixon, and as Dorian Jones retains his position at fly-half South African scrum-half Sarel Pretorius is named.

Whilst there are no changes to the front or second row, two changes have been made to the back row as flankers Harri Keddie and Ollie Griffiths join skipper Lewis Evans.

Ahead of the match 22-year-old centre Jarryd Sage commented; “It will be a nice game for me and playing against an old team always gives you a bit of extra motivation to prove yourself.

“I didn’t play much at the Kings so want to go back there and almost show them what they lost. It’s a very exciting game for me and it will be good to play in front of my family.”

He continued; “It’s a different experience and environment for us but I don’t think that my advice will really be needed, we’ve just got to go out there and work on the performance from last week.

“The Kings are going to target this game because they haven’t won yet. It will be a tough fight but we’ve just got to do what is needed for the win.”

There are four changes to the bench as Max Williams, James Benjamin, Dan Babos and Rio Dyer join Ellis Shipp, Gerard Ellis, Lloyd Fairbrother and Connor Edwards.

Dragons team to face Southern Kings

15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Jarryd Sage, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Jared Rosser, 10 Dorian Jones, 9 Sarel Pretorius; 1 Sam Hobbs, 2 Liam Belcher, 3 Leon Brown, 4 Joe Davies, 5 Rynard Landman, 6 Harri Keddie, 7 Ollie Griffiths, 8 Lewis Evans ©.

Replacements; Ellis Shipp, Gerard Ellis, Lloyd Fairbrother, Max Williams, James Benjamin, Dan Babos, Connor Edwards, Rio Dyer.